Meeting 37 · May 25, 2026 · 15:47–18:02 (2h 15m)
45-14 witnesses · 177 interventions · 15,426 words
The House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities met to study housing starts in relation to federal housing programs, hearing from Paul Halucha, Deputy Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities; Michael Brooks of the Real Property Association of Canada; Sean Baird of Toronto Community Housing Corporation; and Brad Jones of Wesgroup Properties.
Paul Halucha, appearing alongside Minister Robertson, provided administrative details on the creation of Build Canada Homes, noting that start-up expenditures were about $6 million to $7 million absorbed by the department, with $44 million approved for operating costs in the coming year. He also stated that restructuring costs related to moving Canada Lands Company functions under Build Canada Homes are still being determined, with due diligence costs incurred so far.
Michael Brooks argued that housing starts are a trailing indicator and that policy should instead track leading indicators such as new home sales and commitments to build purpose-built rental, as reflected in CMHC loan applications. He warned that an oversupply of rental units is emerging in some markets due to an immigration whipsaw, with net-negative immigration reducing demand, and that the one-year timeline for the expanded GST rebate is too short to stimulate the market effectively, recommending a longer-term reduction instead.
Sean Baird emphasized that focusing solely on housing starts risks missing the loss of existing deeply affordable housing, noting that Toronto Community Housing's capital repair backlog could reach $4.7 billion by 2034. He recommended renewing federal capital funding for repairs beyond 2027, establishing a dedicated deeply affordable housing stream structured as capital grants rather than loans, and measuring success by units preserved and affordability depth, not just starts.
Brad Jones argued that CMHC's methodology for recording housing starts—counting apartment projects only when the structure reaches grade, 12 to 24 months after construction begins—creates a misleading picture of current market conditions, overstating activity in 2025 by roughly 24% in metro Vancouver. He recommended tracking multiple indicators including pre-sales, excavation starts, and completions, and also noted that frequent building code changes, particularly sustainability requirements, add significant costs and force reliance on imported European materials, with payback periods exceeding 10 years.
The committee also heard from Minister Robertson, who defended the government's approach, citing progress on the build communities strong fund, Build Canada Homes, and the apartment construction loan program, and stating that average rents are declining. He faced questions on the cost of establishing Build Canada Homes, the rationale for expanding the GST rebate to all new homes under $1 million in Ontario, and the government's appeal of the Cowichan decision, which he said was about seeking clarity and disagreed with the ruling, while rejecting claims that it threatens private property. No procedural debate, motions, or votes occurred during the meeting.
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Paul Halucha
Deputy Minister, Department of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
Opening remarks
I'm glad to do it. During the first year, which was a start-up year, the expenditures were around $6 million or $7 million, and they were absorbed through the department. For operating next year, $44 million has been approved.
Michael Brooks
Chief Executive Officer, Real Property Association of Canada
Opening remarks
Thank you. REALPAC: Who are we? We're a 55-year-old trade association representing institutional real estate owners, almost every pension fund in Canada, every major TSX-listed real estate REIT and real estate operating company, all the banks and all the lifecos through the lending group. Just call it institutional real estate, generally income-producing real estate, and all asset classes, including multi-family. Our members would own probably a quarter of a million residential units, coast to coast, as long-term holders and investors. Today you're focused on housing starts in relation to federal housing programs. I want to take a moment for definitions and on what the forward-looking definition ought to be as opposed to housing starts. For those of you who were here when Mr. Moffat spoke, I think he went through a technical definition of what a housing start is. What I would say about housing starts generally is that they're a trailing indicator of economic activity. A housing start represents a decision made two, four or five years ago based on a budget that the developer hoped would come to fruition. When you think about purpose-built rental, how could that be a risky…
Sean Baird
President and Chief Executive Officer, Toronto Community Housing Corporation
Opening remarks
Thank you, Chair and members of this committee, for the invitation to appear. My name is Sean Baird. I'm the president and CEO of Toronto Community Housing Corporation. TCHC is Canada's largest public housing provider and one of the country's most significant public builders of deeply affordable housing. TCHC is home to more than 100,000 people living in 60,000 homes throughout Toronto. Our portfolio is a $20-billion public asset that was built over decades with federal and municipal investment, and it represents a major portion of Canada's deeply affordable housing supply. Since 2019, TCHC has accessed nearly $100 million in federal funding through CMHC's affordable housing fund, and we have built more than 10,000 homes in recent history. We are not only a housing provider; we're a fully integrated solution to the housing crisis, with the ability to repair, manage and build affordable housing at scales unmatched in Canada. That capacity matters, because the issue before us is not only how much housing Canada can build but also whether we can maintain and preserve what we already have. I want to acknowledge the framing of this study. Housing starts in relation to federal…
Brad Jones
Chief Development Officer, Wesgroup Properties
Opening remarks
Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, for the opportunity to appear today. My name is Brad Jones, and I'm the chief development officer at Wesgroup Properties, which is located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Wesgroup is one of Canada's largest privately held real estate organizations and has delivered over 10,000 homes, along with commercial space, across metro Vancouver. I'd like to speak about a nuanced issue that has become increasingly important in Canada's housing response: the timing of how housing starts are measured and how it impacts policy decisions on housing. When housing start data, as currently defined, is used as real-time data, it leads to misinformed policy action or inaction. The CMHC considers low-rise construction to have started when the foundation has been poured, such as for a single-family home or a townhouse project. For larger apartment projects with underground parking, it is not recorded until the concrete structure reaches grade. In modern urban apartment construction, that can occur 12 to 24 months after construction activity has begun. On a real project we've been working on at Wesgroup, sales took place in 2022. Excavation took…