Housing Design Catalogue: What We Heard Report
Summer 2024

• Copyright

  © His Majesty the King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, 2024.

  Catalogue No. T94-77/2024E-PDF

  ISBN 978-0-660-74020-1

On this page

• Background
• Vision for the Catalogue Initiative
• Engagement to Date
• Key Findings
  • 1. Focus on designs that encourage density
  • 2. Accelerate the approvals for new homes
  • 3. Set the bar high for sustainability and accessibility
  • 4. Demonstrate and encourage innovation
  • 5. Allow flexibility and evolution
• Path Forward
  • Developing Designs
  • Building Partnerships
• Conclusion
• Annex A: Role of Standardized Designs
• Annex B: Scope of the Design Catalogue

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Background

The Government of Canada is committed to building a country and economy that promotes generational fairness. One of the best ways to achieve this is by tackling Canada’s housing crisis and ensuring everyone has access to a home that they can afford and that meets their needs. Achieving this aim requires transformative change across the housing sector, including reimagining how we plan, design, and build homes more quickly, affordably, sustainably, and equitably. Such efforts are crucial to closing the housing supply gap.

Working with partners across the housing sector, the Government has laid the foundation for this transformational change. In 2017, the launch of the National Housing Strategy (NHS), signaled a meaningful re-engagement by the federal government in housing. It consists of complementary programs and initiatives that aim to increase housing supply and address housing needs across the housing continuum, including supporting innovative new methods of construction and financing. More recently, the Housing Accelerator Fund that launched in 2023 is another powerful tool that is helping communities break down the local barriers to delivering housing.

Given the extent of the housing challenges Canada is facing today more action is required. Solving the housing crisis demands a Team Canada approach. No one order of government can do it alone. We need all orders of government to move forward in a unified direction to build the homes Canadians need.

Building on investment started in 2017, the federal government announced Canada’s Housing Plan laying out a bold strategy to unlock millions of new homes. It will focus on builder more homes, faster, and changing the way industry builds homes.

The Government remains committed to utilizing all innovative tools at its disposal to support the continued evolution of the housing system in Canada. This means investing in ideas and technology like prefabricated housing factories, mass timber production, panelization, and 3D printing. This also includes drawing lessons from ideas that have worked in the past and adapting them to modern needs and conditions. The Housing Design Catalogue concept is one such idea.

The government is taking inspiration from the post-war housing design catalogue first created by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) between the late 1940s and 1970s, which will provide blueprints that can be used across the country to speed up construction. Standardized catalogues of designs are an increasingly common tool found across many jurisdictions to simplify the way in which housing is delivered. By offering builders pre-vetted options for design the catalogue initiative can reduce the cost, time, and uncertainty involved in housing development. Budget 2024 commits to providing $11.6 million to support the development of housing designs that provinces, territories, and municipalities can use to simplify and accelerate housing approvals.

This paper summarizes the results of a targeted engagement process led by Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC) and CMHC on the design catalogue initiative. It sought expert feedback from housing sector participants on the opportunities and challenges of implementing this tool.

The results have helped inform the scope of the work, including a request for proposals for the first iteration of the catalogue, which is expected to launch in late 2024.

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Vision for the Catalogue Initiative

The design catalogue initiative is intended to help builders and communities streamline the process of delivering new housing. The initiative can help address barriers that have contributed to the growth in Canada’s housing supply gap and resulting challenges to access and affordability by providing technical tools and guidance for standardized housing designs. An illustrative example of how standardized design catalogues are envisioned to fit within the typical development process is provided in Annex A.

Despite the level of enthusiasm for the design catalogue, one aspect is clear: this is only one tool in the broader toolkit needed to address a range of challenges within Canada’s housing system. It is envisioned as one component part of a wider suite of initiatives recently outlined in Canada’s Housing Plan and Budget 2024 that will change the way industry builds homes and speed up the construction of new supply.

By providing technical guidance on building design that is high performing and conforms to local planning and building code regulations, Figure 1 demonstrates how the design catalogue complements the Government of Canada’s efforts to reduce costs and timelines for home building and reduce barriers to entry in the homebuilding sector.

Figure 1 – Alignment of Standardized Design & other GoC Initiatives

What designs should be included? How should they perform? What is required to ensure the design catalogue is a success? Answering these and other questions is essential to the successful implementation of the initiative and requires feedback from a broad cross-section of Canadians – from builders, to communities, to housing advocates, and more.

Figure 1 – Text Description

The Government of Canada is undertaking multiple efforts to enable new housing supply by addressing the challenges in Canada’s housing market, with the design catalogue serving as an additional component that complements these efforts. The figure provides a visual overview of these efforts.

Permissive Regulation(Top Left Row): The first effort are federal initiatives to reduce barriers to new housing supply imposed by exclusionary / restrictive planning rules. These initiatives include the Housing Accelerator Fund.

Accessible Financing (Top Right Row): The second effort are financing programs to ensure that new infill housing developments have access to low-cost lending, facilitating increased supply. These financing programs include the newly announced Secondary Suite Loan Program.

Industry Capacity (Bottom Right Row): The third effort are government investments in innovative homebuilding techniques and off-site construction to boost construction capacity and productivity to meet growing demand. These investments would include the newly announced Industrial Strategy for Housing.

Technical Ability (Bottom Left Row): The fourth effort is the development of standardized housing designs that can be efficiently and reliably approved by local authorities to delivery more high-performance housing. This includes the Housing Design Catalogue initiative.

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Engagement to Date

From January to April 2024, the Government of Canada set out to gather ideas from a targeted range of housing system participants on the potential scope, users, and objectives for the housing design catalogue initiative. This input has been critical to developing the scope, objective and parameters of the initiative. The consultations included input from technical experts (e.g., architects, planners, designers, engineers, manufacturers), potential industry adopters (homebuilders, developers, non-profit providers), and other orders of government (provinces, territories, and municipal governments).

The Government plans to work with Indigenous governments and partners on ways to make the catalogue initiative relevant and supportive to their communities’ housing goals and objectives. A key starting point was to understand the landscape of Indigenous-led housing designs and how Indigenous communities are currently using them to build housing in their communities. Preliminary outreach to and information about the catalogue initiative was shared with National Indigenous Organizations (NIOs), Indigenous women’s organizations, modern treaty holders and self-governing nations in March and discussions will continue with interested partners throughout May and June.

Given that provinces and territories (PTs) have responsibility for regional and local governments, land use planning, and building codes and regulations, PT governments are key partners to ensuring that standardized housing designs will work with local zoning regulations and approval processes. Discussions with planning and building officials from provinces and territories have been productive to date. However, PT collaboration is needed on a continuous basis to ensure successful implementation and take-up of the catalogue.

This interim report provides a snapshot of early views on the proposed design catalogue and summarizes written feedback to date. It also includes input from non-profit housing developers, municipal government officials and the Canadian Institute of Planners who participated in three roundtables in Spring 2024. Finally, the report summarizes the feedback from a variety of discussions with technical experts across the housing system specializing in the fields of architecture, engineering, accessibility, and sustainability.

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Key Findings

Participants provided helpful feedback on key design and implementation questions highlighted during one-on-one interviews, roundtables and written submissions received over the past several months. While perspectives offered were diverse and varied, five common themes emerged on how the design catalogue initiative can best support housing needs in Canada. These themes are summarized in Figure 2 below.

The following sections provide additional details on each theme: what was said, what it means, and how it will shape the future of the design catalogue initiative. This feedback will be instrumental in guiding the launch of the catalogue to ensure it realizes its potential.

Figure 2 – Summary of Engagement Themes

1. Focus on designs that encourage density in order to accelerate the delivery of more housing
2. Ensure the catalogue simplifies and accelerates the process of homebuilding for all participants
3. Set the bar high for performance on sustainability and accessibility for all designs
4. Use the catalogue to demonstrate and encourage the use of innovative homebuilding techniques
5. Allow for flexibility and the evolution of new catalogue varieties over time

1. Focus on designs that encourage density

Amongst all the feedback received, the most common refrain was that the catalogue must prioritize designs that align with the modern housing needs of Canadians. Participants repeatedly cited that while the previous design catalogue was an ideal tool for Canada after the Second World War, its emphasis on single-family homes is a poor fit with what is required from the catalogue today. Given the urgent need for more homes to be built faster, participants indicated that the catalogue will yield more impactful results if it focuses on higher density forms of housing within existing communities – such as four or six-unit multiplexes and accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Many participants highlighted such a focus as crucial to delivering more affordable housing supply quickly and efficiently while still supporting Canada’s broader sustainability goals.

This emphasis on density was also recommended by participants on more purely pragmatic grounds. Feedback from developers, for example, highlighted the ways in which the technical capability of the sector has improved over decades such that many builders already have standardized plans. Focusing the Government of Canada’s efforts on missing middle housing types – such as those only recently supported by local land-use regulations like fourplexes – was viewed by participants as a way to ensure that the design catalogue is a valuable tool for industry.

We heard from participants in rural communities that single family designs are appropriate in their context, as a catalogue is a useful tool where local homebuilding expertise is in short supply. Similarly, contributors from northern and remote communities highlighted the ways in which a lower density catalogue could support their aims by providing builders a tool to improve building performance and account for local material availability.

Where participant feedback diverged was in views on the upper limit of density the catalogue should target. Some stakeholders – such as non-market developers – saw significant potential opportunities from the inclusion of mid-rise designs as part of the catalogue. Technical experts from the architectural, engineering, and planning communities highlighted the challenges of including higher density designs given the site-specific design decisions that are often required. This remains an ongoing area for research and analysis.

2. Accelerate the approvals for new homes

While participants highlighted numerous ways in which the catalogue might address challenges across Canada’s housing system, the most cited role was its potential to address regulatory barriers restricting new housing. While participants cited most often the complexity of land-use planning regulations as an issue that standardized designs can help overcome, participants also cited issues related to building permitting, codes, and inspections.

This feedback implied the need for another significant shift in the focus of the design catalogue initiative from the previous generation’s efforts: emphasizing the need for the catalogue to provide not only architectural guidance, but regulatory tools for builders and communities as well. This requires cooperation with provinces, territories, and municipalities, in efforts to reduce regulatory barriers and streamlined approvals.

Participants suggested a wide variety of potential tools that could be paired with the catalogue to accelerate the approvals for new homes – though there was no consensus on an “ideal” approach. Some recommended measures – such as leveraging certified model programs or pattern-based zoning – were more narrowly focused on specific designs. Others envisioned broader packages of regulatory relief – such as model zoning bylaws – that would benefit a much broader range of developments beyond those leveraging a catalogue design.

Virtually all participants foresaw significant challenges for this portion of the design catalogue initiative – particularly given its national scope. Technical experts, municipal leaders, and builders all cited the fragmented, community-specific nature of local rules as a key barrier to standardization. Participants identified some areas where these divergences could be overcome – for example, by developing designs suitable for multiple provincial building codes.

With the range of sophisticated tools now available to support the upfront planning for development, participants made clear that design itself no longer represents the barrier it once did. Providing standardized designs that can move projects efficiently from conception to construction is the critical new role the catalogue can serve. Despite the difficulty doing so, as the feedback made clear, achieving simpler and faster approvals for designs within the catalogue is a crucial ingredient for the initiative’s success

3. Set the bar high for sustainability and accessibility

Throughout the engagement process participants reinforced the need for the federal government to consider not only how the catalogue could change how we build, but influence what we build as well. With some caution against the risks and costs of overdesigning  homes (e.g. overly  complex designs or suggesting too broad a range of scenarios to cover) within the catalogue, a majority of respondents saw it as an opportunity to push the envelope towards higher performing homes in Canada.

Promoting greater accessibility was consistently highlighted as an essential feature of the design catalogue. The non-profit sector and accessibility advocates reinforced not only the importance of universal design features for addressing the needs of Canadians today but also the growing need as Canada’s population continues to age. Respondents cited numerous options for how to incorporate these principles – such as universal design or accessibility ready standards – to ensure even homes within the catalogue that are not themselves accessible could be cost effectively and rapidly converted.

Climate compatibility of homes was another essential feature of designs identified throughout the consultation process. Most respondents saw opportunities for the design catalogue to demonstrate leadership on the topic – for example, by pushing for energy efficiency beyond the minimums established in the National Building Code – without sacrificing other objectives for the initiatives such as speed and cost. Others saw opportunities to influence the homebuilding market to develop more energy efficient and climate resilient homes.
Other design features highlighted focused on promoting health, supporting hybrid work, and enabling aging in place. The needs discussed that could be addressed through home design were as diverse as the participants proposing them.

Overall, what was consistent in the feedback, however, was the need to set the bar high for performance of homes in the catalogue. With demographics changing, the climate crisis compounding, and Canadians expectations growing, ensuring the initiative promotes high performing homes was viewed as an essential ingredient to “future proof” the catalogue so that its designs remain relevant for years to come. Balancing these objectives will be a key process of the design process ahead.

4. Demonstrate and encourage innovation

Promoting the adoption of innovative homebuilding techniques was a central objective of the original design catalogue. Through consultations across the housing system, it was clear that this remains a core objective of the modern-day initiative.

In particular, feedback highlighted the importance of using the catalogue to promote prefabrication and / or modular homebuilding techniques. There was consistent enthusiasm from a wide range of homebuilders and innovators for what the design catalogue could do to encourage these new approaches. Many respondents viewed it as an opportunity to demonstrate to Canadians a new “art of the possible” from a type of housing construction that has made significant technical advances in recent years and is poised to play an increasing role in accelerating the delivery of new housing supply.

While there was near universal alignment on the potential benefits for the catalogue initiative in the prefabricated sector, there were a variety of views on the best approach for achieving those benefits. Many participants highlighted the challenge the sector may face reengineering production lines to deliver on Government-led designs. Others cited the presence of existing design catalogues throughout the industry as a potential asset the Government could leverage to quickly provide greater variety to users of the catalogue. This feedback has reinforced the need for the Government to utilize a variety of procurement approaches for designs within the catalogue.

Feedback from participants reinforced the need for the Government of Canada to connect the design catalogue with other federal efforts in order to more comprehensively support the sector. Access to suitable financing to build and scale production capacity, as well as recognizing innovative techniques in national/provincial building codes were seen as crucial pre-requisites to ensure that modular and pre-fabricated designs within the catalogue could be used. The Government of Canada continues to explore these measures as part of its development of an industrial policy for housing in Canada announced in the recent Housing Plan.

5. Allow flexibility and evolution

While standardization of designs via the catalogue was generally viewed as a necessary and laudable goal, many participants highlighted that completely inflexible designs would be unappealing to many builders and limit their use. Practically speaking, without the ability to make some minor modifications, designs would be unable to adapt to unavoidable variances in site conditions.

The consultation confirmed that the catalogue must allow some modest level of flexibility within designs. That flexibility might allow, for example, changes in aesthetics or non-structural features of the building envelope. Other examples provided were the ability to gradually add or augment the structures themselves – such as incorporating secondary suites or other accessibility features. Critically, these modifications would need to be limited to only the non-structural features of designs or other elements that would not affect their permissibility under local building codes and regulations.

Participants highlighted ways in which the catalogue could be offered to users that also promote this level of flexibility. In particular, numerous respondents from industry advised that designs be provided in digital formats so that they can be easily adjusted over time. This would have the co-benefit of aligning more closely with the digital transformation currently underway in Canada’s municipal planning sector, where adoption of e-permitting and digitization of codes has the potential to unlock ever more efficiency in approval processes. Through the consultation, many participants highlighted how the catalogue effort could serve as a tool and possible catalyst for this transformation.

Beyond the individual designs or formats themselves, participants noted the need for the catalogue itself to evolve and be adaptable over time. Homebuilders in particular reinforced the challenges the Government of Canada may face in keeping designs current and relevant in the face of ever-advancing homebuilding techniques, materials science, and construction technology. Industry participants highlighted the ways in which the initial catalogue could serve as a model for future efforts to promote standardized designs that could be led by industry. This aligns well with Government of Canada’s existing efforts to promote innovation – such as recent investments through the Housing Supply Challenge.

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Path Forward

The feedback received through this consultation has been invaluable input that has helped refine the Government of Canada’s approach to this new initiative. In the coming weeks and months the Government will be taking several important next steps towards its realization.

Developing Designs

This summer, the Government will release a call for proposals from qualified design firms to develop standardized designs for ADUs , row houses, fourplexes, and six-plexes. This will include multiple designs suitable for different lot sizes and regions across the country. Designs will prioritize buildability, climate compatibility, and accessibility-ready features. The Government will look for proponents to demonstrate innovative ways to leverage prefabricated components into these designs.

Going forward, the Government will also explore the potential for a design competition to complement the designs it is developing. The competition would specifically target new innovation in areas such as off-site manufacturing as a way to respond to the feedback from industry and raise the bar for housing design. Details on this portion of the initiative will be made available in late 2024.

Building Partnerships

In tandem with these efforts, the Government of Canada will continue its work to build a supportive regulatory environment for standardized designs across the country. Already the Government has engaged with PT and municipal partners to take stock of existing regulatory initiatives that can support simplified approvals and standardized designs and begun to identify other opportunities.

Working with these partners, the Government intends to co-develop a series of regulatory tools that can be adopted by PTs and/or municipalities. The adoption of these tools will support the implementation of the catalogue and ensure that it helps simplify the approval processes for new housing. This aligns with the Government of Canada’s efforts to eliminate barriers to new housing supply through programs such as the Housing Accelerator Fund and Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund.

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Conclusion

While this report summarizes the feedback received thus far, the enthusiasm for participation and diversity of perspectives shared during this process has made clear the need for ongoing dialogue. Though not a singular solution, standardized designs have an important role to play in the future of Canada’s housing system. The Government of Canada is committed to continuing to lead the conversation regarding how to achieve this potential in the weeks and months to come.

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Annex A: Role of Standardized Designs

While this report summarizes the feedback received thus far, the enthusiasm for participation and diversity of perspectives shared during this process has made clear the need for ongoing dialogue. Though not a singular solution, standardized designs have an important role to play in the future of Canada’s housing system. The Government of Canada is committed to continuing to lead the conversation regarding how to achieve this potential in the weeks and months to come.

Figure 3 – Impact of Standardized Designs on the Development Process

Figure 3 – Text Description

Typical Process (Top Row): A typical housing design and development process is iterative and involves many complex regulatory steps, including extensive technical reviews to ensure compliance. This process generally includes the following steps (from left to right):

1. Project ideation
2. Design*
3. Technical Review *
4. Comment and Feedback*
5. Amendments / Variances
6. Permit Approval
7. Build

*Steps 2 to 4 may be repeated several times until all comments and feedback from regulatory authorities have been addressed. This may cause delays in the design and development process.

Catalogue Process (Bottom Row): The proposed catalogue process starts with new, approval ready designs along with a set of supporting regulatory reforms. With these approval ready designs and regulatory reforms, the steps in the proposed catalogue process can be reduced and include (from left to right):

1. Project Ideation (same process as the typical process illustrated in the row above)
2. Select and Modify (new process)
3. Narrow Review (simplified process)
4. Permit Approval (simplified process)
5. Build

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Annex B: Scope of the Design Catalogue

The Government of Canada’s design catalogue is intended to focus on the housing types most appropriate for standardization and best aligned to the Government’s supply objectives. This implies a prioritization of ADUs , multiplexes, and potentially mid-rise developments after further exploration of the technical feasibility of standardized designs at that scale. Modular and pre-fabricated designs across housing typologies will be included given the opportunities to improve productivity within the sector.

Conversion and high-rises will be out of scope for the catalogue given the extensive site-specific features that must be considered at those scales. Single-family homes will be deprioritized in the first iteration, based on feedback from industry that many catalogue solutions already exist in this space.

Figure 4 – Housing Typologies and Development Scenarios Included

Figure 4 – Text Description

Built Form: The first column on the left-hand side identifies a total of five (5) different housing types, referred to as “built forms”, from the top-down: Accessory Dwelling Units, Single Family Homes, Multiplexes, Mid-Rises and High-Rises.

Construction: The remaining columns in the table identify different development scenarios, categorized from left to right: “on-site” construction (which includes infill, conversion; infill, new build, and greenfield construction) and “off-site” construction (which includes modular and/or prefab construction).

The purpose of the table is to show what housing typologies and development scenarios are in-scope and out-of-scope for the Housing Design Catalogue initiative.

Housing typologies and development scenarios

1. Accessory Dwelling Units

In-Scope:

• Infill, Conversion; Infill, New Build: Strong candidates given simplicity and newness; lack of familiarity with builders given previous zoning restrictiveness.
• Modular / Pre-fab: Development process for modular is a clear fit with the catalogue concept as modular designs are inherently standardized at-scale. Represents a potential opportunity to support this nascent built form by reducing current cost and availability disadvantages.

To be Confimred:

• Greenfield: Need to validate the value to industry / existence of proprietary designs already.

2. Single Family Homes

In-scope:

• Modular / Pre-Fab: Development process for modular is a clear fit with catalogue concept as modular designs are inherently standardized at-scale. Represents a potential opportunity to support this nascent built form by reducing current cost and availability disadvantages.

To be Confimred:

• Infill, New Build; Greenfield: Need to validate the value to industry / existence of proprietary designs already.

Out-of-Scope:

• Infill, Conversion: Too much variability in existing conditions; does not lend itself to catalogue-like designs.

3. Multiplexes

In-Scope:

• Infill, New Build: Priority type of supply; recently more planning permissibility.
• Modular / Pre-Fab: Development process for modular is a clear fit with catalogue concept as modular designs are inherently standardized at-scale. Represents a potential opportunity to support this nascent built form by reducing current cost and availability disadvantages.

To be Confirmed:

• Greenfield: Need to validate the value to industry / existence of proprietary designs already.

Out-of-Scope:

• Infill, Conversion: Too much variability in existing conditions; does not lend itself to catalogue-like designs.

4. Mid-Rise

In-Scope:

• Infill, New Build (Exploratory): Unclear whether standardized designs are possible at this scale; will be longer-term focus for research and development.
• Modular / Pre-Fab: Development process for modular is a clear fit with catalogue concept as modular designs are inherently standardized at-scale. Represents a potential opportunity to support this nascent built form by reducing current cost and availability disadvantages.

Out-of-Scope:

• Infill, Conversion: Too much variability in existing conditions; does not lend itself to catalogue-like designs.

5. High Rises

Out-of-Scope:

• Infill, Conversion; Infill, New Build; Greenfield; Modular / Pre-Fab: Requires site-specific considerations and engineering of building.

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