The federal government has proposed Build Canada Homes, a new initiative designed to dramatically scale up affordable housing by financing projects, streamlining approvals, and modernizing construction practices. The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE) welcomes this initiative and has submitted recommendations to ensure engineering expertise is front and center in its design.
Affordable housing is not just a numbers game. The way we build matters; for safety, climate, and long-term affordability. Engineers see daily how technical decisions on materials, methods, and design standards shape the costs, durability, and environmental impact of housing. That’s why OSPE is urging Build Canada Homes to prioritize evidence-based solutions that deliver safe, sustainable, and resilient homes.
OSPE’s Key Recommendations
1. Avoid High-Carbon 3D Printing
While 3D printing may sound like a futuristic solution, it relies on concrete with elevated cement content, which carries one of the highest embodied carbon footprints in construction. Using it for housing at scale risks driving up both costs and climate impacts. OSPE recommends focusing instead on timber-based systems like light-frame and mass timber, which are lighter, more efficient, and far less carbon-intensive.
2. Support Prefabrication, but Get It Right
Prefabrication and modular housing can speed up delivery and improve quality, but only when properly engineered. Past failures (like poorly reinforced panel housing in the 1950s) show the risks of cutting corners. OSPE recommends investing in timber prefabrication that combines low embodied carbon with engineered durability and resilience.
3. Scale Adaptive Reuse
One of the fastest and greenest ways to add housing is to convert underused or vacant buildings into homes. Adaptive reuse avoids demolition waste, lowers carbon footprints, and can bring affordable units online faster than new builds. Yet it is missing from the Build Canada Homes guide. OSPE strongly recommends making adaptive reuse a core strategy.
4. Encourage Vertical and Lateral Extensions
Instead of repeating mid-20th-century sprawl models, Canada should make better use of existing urban spaces by adding floors and extensions to existing buildings. This approach supports transit-oriented communities, reduces car dependency, and helps cities grow sustainably while protecting green space.
5. Reuse Salvaged Materials
Circular construction is the lowest-carbon approach. Reusing wood, steel, and other salvaged materials diverts waste from landfills and lowers costs, particularly for small-scale housing projects. Build Canada Homes can lead by embedding waste diversion and material reuse standards into its programs.
Why This Matters
Canada needs affordable housing at scale, but scaling up the wrong technologies risks locking in higher costs, unsafe building practices, and a massive climate footprint. Engineers have a responsibility to ensure affordability does not come at the expense of resilience and sustainability.
OSPE believes Build Canada Homes can deliver on its promise if it integrates engineering expertise at every step of its design and investment strategy.
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OSPE has formally submitted these recommendations to the federal government and has offered to meet with officials to discuss them further. We will also engage our members, Sustainable Cities Task Force, and partners across the housing ecosystem to ensure the engineering profession’s voice is heard in shaping Canada’s housing future.
Engineers are builders, problem-solvers, and innovators. With smart policy and collaboration, we can deliver homes that are not only affordable, but also safe, sustainable, and built for generations to come.
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