To tackle the housing shortage, the government is dusting off its post-war house building program and building on it by promising a new federal catalog of pre-approved plans from the 21ste century.
“Providing access to concepts provided by the government will significantly reduce the cost, there will be fewer architect fees and it will speed up the process,” Sean Fraser, the Minister responsible for Housing within the Ministry, explained enthusiastically on Tuesday. Trudeau government.
Also Minister of Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser held in his hand a 1954 federal catalog from which he wishes to draw inspiration. Sold at the time for $10, the green booklet brings together plans for the “Victory Houses” built on a large scale in Canada after the Second World War.
For its 2024 version, however, the standardized plans offered will not be limited to bungalows and simple single-family houses. “We are instead looking for various types of housing,” mentioned Minister Fraser, mentioning multiplexes, student housing buildings or seniors’ residences, including modular and prefabricated houses.
The minister made his announcement Monday as part of a weekly update of government activities, accompanied, in particular, by his fellow ministers Chrystia Freeland and François-Philippe Champagne. The latter could not help but notice that the buildings in the catalog “look a lot like the neighborhoods of Shawinigan,” adding that he “loves the idea” of starting to build again in series.
A vast consultation will be launched in January with “all those who have something to say”. Sean Fraser indicated that municipalities and provinces will not be forced to take part in the project, but he believes that it will be “in their interest” to do so.
The establishment of federal funding for housing reignited certain hostilities with Quebec earlier this year, since Quebec municipalities do not have the right to reach an agreement themselves with Ottawa. The two levels of government finally agreed in October to receive $900 million from the Fund to Accelerate Housing Construction (FACL).
The federal government promises that its catalog will not be expensive to produce, but on the contrary will save society a lot of money while building faster and more environmentally. The details of the project are not yet known, nor the number of housing units that Ottawa wants to see.