Tim Richter is the founder and chief executive of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness and co-chair of the National Housing Council.
Tyler Meredith is a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and previously served as a senior economic adviser for prime minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party.
This essay is part of the Prosperity’s Path series. In a time of geopolitical instability and a shifting world order, the challenges facing Canada’s economy have only gotten more visible, numerous and intense. This series brings solutions.
Canada’s housing and homelessness crisis touches nearly every Canadian. Over the past decade, while federal housing spending has increased, affordability has worsened for all but the wealthiest, and homelessness is surging. Despite recent declines in housing prices and rents, unsheltered homelessness is still up 300 per cent since 2018, according to the most recent national point-in-time count.
Prime Minister Carney has set out to double construction and speed up factory-built housing, among other goals outlined in the 2025 budget.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
The country has a narrow but historic window to tackle this crisis and rebuild our housing system so it delivers at the speed, scale and affordability this moment demands. This would be beneficial not just for Canadians, but for our economic prosperity, given the role of housing in attracting investment, creating good jobs and increasing productivity. We can also use this moment to drastically reduce homelessness.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has set out ambitious goals: doubling construction, driving down costs, speeding up factory-built housing, and refocusing the system so it serves people who have been locked out of the market for years. Budget 2025 moves in this direction, but a central question remains: How do we make sure this investment pays off for the people who need it the most?
Federal action alone won’t get us there. Provinces and territories control the planning systems, development-charge frameworks, zoning rules, supportive housing, health services and income supports. Without a mechanism to ensure everyone is pulling toward the same outcomes, we won’t build enough homes, and the homes we do build won’t be truly affordable.
That is why we need a Canada Housing Accord. And importantly, it can be launched without delaying any of the work already under way. If anything, it is the tool that will ensure the country moves faster and with a clearer sense of purpose.
Budget 2025 signalled a major federal shift toward long-term housing investment. But our national systems remain fragmented. Across provinces, approval timelines vary wildly, affordability standards are inconsistent, and many communities lack the supports needed to provide stability for people experiencing homelessness.
The lack of co-ordination leaves people caught in the middle. We’re seeing this play out right now in Metro Vancouver, where the municipality is planning to increase development charges by more than 200 per cent over three years – effectively cancelling the impact of the federal government’s new home building GST rebate. After COVID-19 broke out, Rapid Housing Initiative projects in cities such as Edmonton received federal and local funding but were delayed and blocked because of a lack of provincial willingness to fund the associated social services. Years go by, and still, chronic homelessness continues to grow faster than current policies can respond.
We need to get our governments rowing in the same direction now. With the existing federal-provincial housing agreements expiring in 2027-28, and the recent decision to channel development-charge reductions through the new Build Communities Strong Fund, negotiation is coming regardless. These agreements can either be piecemeal and transactional, or they can anchor a broader, outcomes-focused national approach that avoids duplication and makes every federal dollar work harder.
In Metro Vancouver, the municipality is planning to increase development charges by more than 200 per cent over three years.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Some may worry that a national framework introduces another layer of process at a moment when speed matters most. But we’ve seen the opposite happen in practice.
The federal government was able to negotiate child-care agreements at extraordinary speed in 2021. These agreements set out a clear national template, defined shared outcomes and invited provinces to build their own action plans. They moved quickly while still delivering a coherent system.
We have the same opportunity for housing. Ottawa can begin the accord process immediately – establishing a framework that includes agreed principles, shared outcomes, clarified roles and responsibilities, and a national data system that can ensure a clear picture of the crisis and progress being made – while bilateral agreements are negotiated in parallel. This will accelerate Build Canada Homes, development-charge reductions and affordability tools by creating a predictable, co-ordinated framework for provinces, territories and municipalities to work within. And it gives the federal government a bully pulpit to compel action if other governments are unwilling to move.
The full potential of any new housing investment can only be unlocked through co-ordination with provinces and territories. A Canada Housing Accord would do this by clarifying who is responsible for what. With its focus on capital spending, Ottawa can concentrate on supply acceleration, affordability incentives and modernizing how homes are built. Provinces and territories can focus on zoning and planning reform, supportive housing, housing benefits and the systems needed to reduce homelessness – without being constrained in how they look at operating and capital dollars the way Ottawa currently is.
It would also set clear expectations to ensure that federal dollars add to provincial spending and improve affordability, instead of becoming indirect provincial fiscal relief.
Further, a Canada Housing Accord would link housing and homelessness strategies together. Quality data, a shared housing strategy and agreed homelessness reduction targets create a co-ordinated approach to homelessness that gets governments working together, focused on solving the problem instead of constantly reacting with ineffective and unco-ordinated stopgap measures.
Despite recent falling housing and rent prices, unsheltered homelessness is still up 300% since 2018.Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press
On the broader housing crisis, an accord would let governments finally harmonize rules that slow down construction. Code modernization, approvals for factory-built housing and consistent standards require co-ordinated action – all under a single, coherent framework.
We have to remember the gravity of the issue. A lack of affordable homes is not just a problem in itself but ripples to affect the wider economy. It reduces disposable income, affecting consumer spending. It hinders labour mobility, making it difficult for employers to attract and retain workers. In a study of Quebec’s Abitibi-Témiscamingue region, northwest of Ottawa, Université du Québec researchers found that because of the housing crisis, one-third of firms turned down contracts, and about half reduced hours because of lack of personnel.
Sky-high housing prices also suck up valuable capital – capital that is then not deployed in more productive ways, such as business investment, which tends to raise incomes.
The Prime Minister is right to focus on outcomes in his bid to tackle the housing crisis. But outcomes require shared commitments. A Canada Housing Accord does exactly that. It ensures money flows quickly, but with clarity about what it’s meant to achieve, reducing duplication and keeping everyone focused on the results Canadians need.
We will not get another moment like this. If we want transformative results, we need systems designed for transformation – and we need them now.
Prosperity’s Path