CANADA ANNOUNCES THE FOURTH ROUND OF THE HOUSING SUPPLY CHALLENGE

Government of Canada Logo (CNW Group/Government of Canada)

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) (CNW Group/Government of Canada)

OTTAWA, ON, Dec. 1, 2022 /CNW/ - The Housing Supply Challenge is moving to Round 4. Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion announced $40 million in funding for "Building for the Future: Innovative Construction for Housing Affordability", the fourth round of the Housing Supply Challenge. 

Building for the Future seeks to identify and cultivate solutions that address barriers to innovation in construction, in an effort to increase housing supply that is affordable, climate compatible and meets people's needs. By supporting the scaling, replicating and adopting of innovative solutions, this round will respond directly to housing supply barriers. This allows local stakeholders to identify and solve the unique housing construction challenges in their area. Building for the Future is designed to encourage collaboration, foster knowledge sharing, and develop partnerships to shape the construction of new housing or retrofits of existing housing across all levels of government.

The Building for the Future round begins today and will be open for applications until April 13, 2023 at 2:00 P.M. EST.

The Housing Supply Challenge is being hosted on the Impact Canada platform. Innovators wishing to apply should visit https://impact.canada.ca/en/challenges/building-for-the-future.

Quotes:

"Every Canadian deserves a safe and affordable place to call home. To reach this goal, our government is taking action to increase the supply of affordable housing. Through fostering collaboration and building strategic partnerships, we are working closely with stakeholders to break down barriers to housing supply so that we can all build more homes that Canadians can afford. This collaborative approach is essential to creating a long-term and sustainable housing supply. This is the National Housing Strategy at work." – The Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Housing and Diversity and Inclusion

Quick facts: 

• Government of Canada has provided $300 million in funding over five years to launch a Housing Supply Challenge (HSC) and unlock new solutions for Canadians searching for an affordable place to call home.
• The HSC is being delivered by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and aims to:
• provide new resources and find solutions to enhance housing supply and provide a platform to share these models with communities across Canada;
• help address barriers to housing supply and affordability, showcase new ideas and solutions, and cultivate collaboration and partnerships.
• The HSC is a component of Impact Canada, a Government of Canada-wide initiative to help departments accelerate the adoption of innovative funding approaches to deliver meaningful results to Canadians.
• The first round, "Data Driven", has selected 14 finalists who have proposed innovative solutions to address gaps in housing data. These participants will create technology or methodology-based solutions to improve data collection, sharing, analysis and integration, thus improving decision-making on housing supply. The first round will disburse up to $25 million to fund these solutions.
• The second round, "Getting Started", has selected 14 solutions to receive funding to bring their pre-development processes ideas to life. Implementation funding of up to $38 million will be disbursed to fund these solutions Find out who here selected here.
• The third round, ''Northern Access'' has completed Stage 1, shortlisting 33 applicants who have proposed supply chain solutions that reduce the time, cost, and risk to access resources for building and maintaining appropriate northern and remote housing supply. Up to $80 million will be disbursed to fund this round's solutions. Find out which shortlisted teams were selected here.
• The Challenge aligns with the National Housing Strategy and CMHC's goal that by 2030, everyone in Canada has a home they can afford and that meets their needs.

Associated links: 

• To find out more about the National Housing Strategy, visit: www.placetocallhome.ca
• To find out more about Impact Canada, visit: https://impact.canada.ca/

SOURCE Government of Canada

Contacts: Danièle Medlej, Office of the Minister for Housing and Diversity and Inclusion, [email protected]; Media Relations: Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, [email protected]