Atlantic provinces, feds making plan to rapidly build more homes

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The federal government and the four Atlantic provinces say they’re developing a plan to rapidly build more homes across the region.

A “tailored framework” to address the housing crisis will rely heavily on modular home building, says federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser.

He said that could lead to new or expanded factories and new spending from the feds to incentivize the construction of factory-built homes.

Fraser met with the housing ministers from the four Atlantic provinces in Halifax on Monday.

The five emerged together with the promise of a new framework.

“What I’m excited about today is our agreement to develop a tailored framework that is going to help us build more homes faster that is specific to Atlantic Canada,” Fraser said.

“Among other things, this framework is going to provide supports to grow the factory-build home industry here in Atlantic Canada.”

Fraser said the four provinces and the feds will now spend the next few months hammering out the details of the plan.

They will then meet in Ottawa in April where a finalized agreement could be released.

“We are going to work towards establishing new and coordinated investments to help grow factory-build homes,” Fraser said. “Today did not include a new pocket of funding, but it’s something we are agreeing to work towards as part of the tailored framework for Atlantic Canada.”

New Brunswick has a growing modular home industry that already includes Vincent, Prestige, Maple Leaf, Supreme Homes and Kent, along with several other smaller independent companies.

The value in modular builds is that homes can be completed in a quarter of the time of traditional on-site construction.

In a plant, manufacturers can build a house in between seven to 12 days.

The federal government announced in December that it was reviving a program to provide standardized housing blueprints to builders through the creation of a new housing catalogue.

It’s a throwback to the 1940s and late 1970s when hundreds of thousands of homes were built across the country from pre-approved plans from the housing agency.

Fraser said on Monday that there will now be an Atlantic chapter in the catalogue with regional specific options for pre-approved home designs that would include modular housing.

The aim is for it to allow communities across the region to turn to builders who have the materials, specifications and approvals in place to build now.

That will aid non-profit housing providers in rural communities across the region, Fraser said, noting it will save them money and time on the design, approval and other technical requirements of a new building.

New Brunswick Social Development Minister Jill Green said that agreed-upon designs will allow modular contractors from across the region to bid on projects.

“This could have a huge impact on the modular home sector in New Brunswick,” Green said.

“I’m excited that the other Atlantic provinces are partnering with us and we’re making a name for ourselves nationally.”

In an interview, Green said she was encouraged by the talks on Monday, stating they focused on “how to make the greatest impact in the fastest way.”

She said that the availability of land and needed infrastructure are also considerations in building homes, and suggested that “stabilizing” construction loan rates would be another way to get homes built quicker.

Green said the feds do have the funding earmarked for a National Housing Strategy, but that tweaks could be needed “to put development on steroids in Atlantic Canada.”

“They’re very open to that,” Green said. “It was very encouraging.

“There’s an alignment with all the provincial governments and the federal government knowing that we want the same outcomes and we can work together to find the best pathway forward to get those outcomes.”