Construction crews work on a three dwelling infill row house with three secondary suites at 7323 81 Avenue, in Edmonton Tuesday August. 19, 2025. (Credit: David Bloom)
The federal government, along with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), released its design catalogue for standardized homes meant to ease Canada’s housing crisis.
Featuring 50 ready-to-use designs – including multiplexes, row houses and laneway homes that are aimed at fitting into existing neighbourhoods – the plans are meant to get more projects off the ground by cutting down on planning and red tape.
“They’re a head start for homeowners, builders, municipalities,” Daniel Rubinstein, adviser of client solutions at the CMHC, said in a video announcing the catalogue. “They allow them to skip most of the design process and jump right into finalizing designs for a specific site.”
Included in the details are cost estimates for each design, enhanced layouts, guidance on climate resilience and materials needed for construction.
While the costs vary by region, the CMHC estimates an accessory dwelling could cost as little as $275,000 to build in Calgary, while a six-plex unit in Toronto could cost as much as $1.9 million.
Overall, the CMHC estimates a six-plex in Yellowknife is the costliest project, with cost projections ranging as high as $5.7 million, compared to the cheapest estimates of an accessory dwelling in Saskatoon with a price tag of just $205,000.
Drawing inspiration from the CMHC’s post-war housing design catalogues from 1940s and 1970s, the modernized version is part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s multi-billion-dollar plan to address Canada’s housing crisis, which includes opening up federal land to construction and formation of a new agency Build Canada Homes (BCH), to oversee federal housing programs.
So far, cities across the country have pre-reviewed the designs to streamline approvals, including major centres such as Vancouver, Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax and Kitchener-Waterloo.
“Like many cities across Canada, Waterloo is growing fast and the housing supply needs to keep pace,” Waterloo MP Bardish Chagger said in a release. “The Housing Design Catalogue provides a comprehensive set of tools to quickly create homes in existing neighbourhoods — homes that meet families’ needs, whether that’s an accessory dwelling for a family member, or a six-plex in the city centre.”
Carney’s plan is not without detractors, however. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre said last month that the federal government should scrap the Liberal plan and implement his own, which includes incentives for municipalities to speed up permitting and cuts to development fees.
Meanwhile, RBC housing policy director Stephanie Shewchuk warned last month that the BCH relies on all levels of government to work together and could face uncertain economic headwinds.