A major issue in our society is the housing crisis. Faced with this pressing emergency, it is natural to want to find rapid and economical solutions. However, we must remember that building poorer quality housing, with a high carbon footprint and not climate resilient, is a dangerous illusion in the long term.
Building for the future means building with quality, sustainability and resilience. These three pillars are essential to guarantee the sustainability of our homes while meeting the environmental and social imperatives of our time. Quality is not a luxury, it is a necessity. It encompasses the selection of high-performance materials with a low carbon footprint, rigorous manufacturing processes and compliance with strict construction standards.
It is possible to accelerate the construction of quality, affordable housing. Let us also highlight the recent announcement by Ministers Champagne, Fraser and Freeland of an investment of 123 million aimed at developing new residential construction technologies and stimulating innovation in the housing sector.
Architectural design also plays an important role in creating aesthetic, functional housing adapted to our needs. By combining quality, sustainability and design, prefabrication, for example, can offer a multitude of benefits, from reducing costs and construction times to improving energy and environmental performance.
Investing in quality and resilience is also an investment in the future. By reducing the need for post-construction maintenance and repairs, we relieve pressure on skilled labor and enable more homes to be built. In addition, we help improve affordability by reducing operating costs for landlords and stabilizing rents.
Quality of life
But the benefits go beyond economics. By opting for sustainable solutions, we reduce the risk of damage caused by extreme weather events, we improve the health and well-being of residents, and we promote a better quality of life for all. Green roofs, green walls, rainwater harvesting systems and bioclimatic design are just a few examples of soft solutions that can contribute to this vision and be applied now.
However, to realize this vision, we need to change current regulations. It is imperative to improve calls for tenders, take into account qualitative criteria in the awarding of contracts and modify the building code to encourage the construction of quality and resilient housing.
But we cannot meet this challenge alone. We must mobilize all stakeholders, from the private sector to the public sector, including academia. Collaboration with universities and research centers is essential to support research and development of innovative solutions in the design and construction of sustainable housing.
Together, we can build a future where everyone has access to quality, resilient and environmentally friendly housing.
We must act ambitiously to integrate environmental issues into our ways of doing things. It is our collective responsibility to build differently and now.