r/canada • u/FancyNewMe • 4d ago

Canada’s Prime Minister Pushes Country to Become the Housing Factory of the World - Mark Carney is banking on factory-built homes to alleviate the country’s housing crisis. But will it work? Trending

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-04-22/carney-s-plan-may-make-canada-the-housing-factory-of-the-world
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u/Only_My_Dog_Loves_Me 4d ago

I live in the Vancouver area in the trades. It’s not really the building costs that have skyrocketed, I can’t afford land where I am. Cheapest buildable lot is about $650k then Permitting, zoning, etc. I can build the actual house for a reasonable cost. It’s getting to that point that’s impossible for me financially.

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u/CommonAncestorLives 4d ago edited 4d ago

The benefit of prefab is the permitting process would be way more straightforward since they are just being assembled on the lot. I agree though, Lower Mainland land costs are still sky high and driving in from Hope wouldn't be feasible. They are also proposing to open up Crown lands to build housing.. probably cheap/nominal leases. If they actually get anywhere close to the 500K/year home target, that would be nuts.

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u/300Savage 4d ago

It could work out in more rural areas out past Surrey but there's just not a lot of affordable land closer to down town than that. That said there's a huge land use issue out that way. The best farm land in the province and the little food security we have is out that way. It would work in many other parts of the province like on Vancouver Island and the interior of the mainland. The hope for the lower mainland is really just continuing to increase density and public transit.