Build Canada Homes Has Begun About 2,000 Units in Its First Year

Build Canada Homes was set up to scale up the delivery of affordable housing, at a time when industry leaders are raising alarms about the lagging pace of housing development across the country. After a year of existence, CBC reports, the agency has begun construction on about 2,000 units. Two thousand starts is the first hard figure attached to a body whose mandate is written in ambition rather than units. A year is a short time in construction and a long time in a housing crisis, which is why the agency's second year will say more than its first. Either the pace picks up, or the distance between the promise and the pipeline becomes the story. The question CBC puts to the agency, whether it can scale fast enough to meet demand, is the right one, and one count of starts doesn't answer it.