This isn’t just another housing program. This is a structural shift.
On September 14, 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney launched Build Canada Homes (BCH). a federal housing delivery agency designed to build affordable housing at scale.
– Prime Minister Mark Carney
BCH is capitalized with $13 billion in early-stage financing, bonding support, and loan guarantees. It’s three pillars are:
- Partner across governments and Indigenous communities to build affordable homes at speed and scale.
- Deploy modern methods of construction like modular, factory-built, and mass timber to cut time, costs, and emissions.
- Prioritize Buy Canadian materials to strengthen domestic supply chains.
When Government Says “Modular” the Industry is ready to shine
Carney’s launch speech couldn’t have been clearer:
“Factory-build housing means homes, or large parts of homes, built in controlled factory settings. They can be standardized and mass produced and delivered in days or weeks rather than months or years. – Mark Carney
For modular builders, this means transformation. BCH’s framework explicitly embeds factory-built housing into national housing policy the Canadian Wood Council applauded this move:
The Provinces Respond with Excitement
The BCH rollout has sparked momentum across the country.
Ontario
The federal government has officially launched a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for the first project through Build Canada Homes. This project will deliver 540 new homes at Arbo Downsview in Toronto using modern methods of construction. At least 40% of the units on the Arbo Downsview site will be affordable, with a mix of studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom homes.
This is the first of six initial projects through Build Canada Homes to deliver affordable housing on federal lands using modern methods of construction. We expect additional details on these projects in the coming weeks, as well as programs for transitional and supportive housing and the Nunavut Housing Corporation
British Columbia
With a long history of utilizing modular construction for BC Housing projects, BC is well placed to use this experience to capitalize on the initiatives with funds like BC Builds and the Community Housing program
Alberta
Alberta has been optimistic with CLC lands in Edmonton identified for new modular housing, signaling interest in aligning provincial housing and modular incentives with federal BCH priorities.
Why Canada Can Scale With Factory-Built Housing
With trades shortages, weather delays, and lengthy permitting, modular provides a great solution
At ROC, we believe modular construction offers one solutions to the Housing Crisis :
- Parallel sites and factory workflows = faster delivery
- Controlled environments = predictable quality
- Reduced waste = lower carbon impact
- Repeatable systems = Scalable production
Leith Moore, co-founder of Assembly Corp., put it bluntly in The Logic.
“We’ve spent billions supporting modular construction without tying it to scaling new businesses. Let’s take the learnings from Europe and jump ahead”
The takeaway: Canada’s housing goals depend on industrialized building methods. This means scaling modular capacity fast.
Our Perspective on BCH and the Changing Housing Landscape
The modular industry is ready to build and has been preparing for it. Over the past years, ROC Modular has built a reputation on delivering modular buildings across contexts – from social housing to industrial projects, operating a CSA-A277 certified manufacturing facility in Southern Alberta.
We don’t just talk modular, we live it. So the emergence of BCH, which explicitly values factory-built construction, is not just an opportunity. It’s the convergence of policy and market that we’ve been waiting for.
We align deeply with the policy goals. We’ve long positioned modular as a path to reduce waste, compress timelines, and deliver consistent quality. That aligns intimately with BCH’s stated objectives of accelerating delivery, lowering cost, and championing domestic materials.
For example, in our blog about BC’s Community Housing Fund, we emphasized that using a “proven build partner like ROC Modular” helps municipalities and non-profits signal confidence and readiness to funders.
At ROC Modular We intend to be proactive in aligning with BCH’s processes, in bidding RFQs, in building strategic relationships with municipalities, and in coordinating with other stakeholders
This is a National Turnkey Moment
Build Canada Homes signals more than a policy shift. Its a call to action.
At ROC Modular, we’re ready to help governments, housing authorities, and developers deliver the next generation of Canadian housing. Together, we can build homes that are faster, fairer, and future-ready.
