A flawed premise from the start
According to Austin Thompson and Jake Fuss of the Fraser Institute, the core problem is straightforward: Ottawa cannot credibly promise cost-effective affordable housing while simultaneously steering builders toward its own policy preferences.
The agency’s mandate, critics said, risks pulling the program in competing directions just as brokers and lenders are focused on basic supply and price relief.
Carney’s broader housing push aims to double homebuilding, even as industry leaders question whether Canada has enough workers to deliver on that promise.
“Simply put, the federal government cannot credibly promise cost-effective ‘affordable’ housing while steering builders toward its own preferences, primarily because federal bureaucrats at BCH do not know better than private builders and investors which housing projects, materials and technologies can deliver the affordable homes Canadians actually want,” Thompson and Fuss said.
“What BCH will have, however, is an enormous budget—enough to bid workers, materials and construction equipment away from private homebuilders, even if the housing projects it backs ultimately provide worse value for money,” they said.