Federal ministers announce efforts to build houses faster, protect consumers

Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser, said $123 million in previously announced funding has been used to strike deals with home builders to “develop, test, and streamline the next generation of homebuilding techniques to build more homes, faster.”

Federal ministers announced a number of initiatives Thursday they say will get homes built faster and improve competition and affordability across the economy.

They include funding to research new ways to build homes, maintaining the transaction size threshold for mergers and issuing a call for research proposals that “will strengthen affordability and improve price transparency.”

Housing Minister Sean Fraser said that $123 million in federal funding — money previously announced — has been used to strike deals with eight home builders across the country.

A government statement said the funding will be used to “develop, test, and streamline the next generation of home building techniques to build more homes, faster.”

The $123 million is coming from the Liberal government’s Affordable Housing Innovation Fund, which was set up in 2016 with a budget of $208.3 million over six years. In 2022/23, the Liberals topped up the fund with $550.8 million to be allocated over an additional six years.

“The Affordable Housing Innovation Funding is supporting innovative solutions developed by eight different organizations across Canada, which is expected to help get 5,000 new affordable homes built,” Fraser said in a media statement.

Fraser’s office declined to provide details on how the 5,000 homes figure was calculated, or how the research money will be used to help build them. It said those details would be released soon.

Mergers and consumer research

Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry François-Philippe Champagne, meanwhile, announced that his department has issued a call for proposals “for projects to protect and empower Canadian consumers.”

Champagne’s department is looking to fund projects that will help Canadians with grocery affordability by ensuring consumers “better understand options and make the best choices for their family and budget.”

Funding for the research projects will come from the government’s Contributions Program for Non-profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations. The program funds research to help consumers and consumer groups.

The Liberal government did not say how much money will be going toward projects funded under the program, but an official in Champagne’s office said the money will come out of the program’s annual funding envelope.

Last year, Champagne increased the program’s funding envelope from $1.69 million a year to $5 million

Champagne also announced that his department will be maintaining the $93 million merger transaction-size threshold for the third straight year.

When mergers exceed that threshold, the Competition Bureau is informed and conducts a review of the merger to determine if it is likely to reduce competition substantially.

In 2010, the merger limit was $70 million; it increased to $96 million by 2020. The following year the Liberals cut the limit to $93 million and have kept it there ever since. Champagne said that if the freeze had not been maintained, the threshold would have hit $120 million this year.