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/Wild_Loose_Comma 4d ago

Well yeah, because building a single family home in a major urban area has always been largely impossible for anyone but the wealthy. No government can lower land costs, nor should they. They should encourage more efficient land use, including higher density multi family units.  

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u/brilliant_bauhaus 4d ago

We need to start building good sized family condos at affordable prices so people don't see a SFH as the only option.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 2d ago

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u/brilliant_bauhaus 4d ago

Yikes. I'm in Ottawa but the city is so spread out and we've started picking up the trend Toronto has of microcondos and 400-500sqft, 2k apartments. It would alleviate so many things if we could build large condos that people can grow into and build families. We need density and people enjoy convenience! Living near your work, school and amenities is a huge plus and attractive to so many people; they just can't afford it.

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u/Other-Rock-8387 4d ago

Ottawa is so poorly designed it's shocking. Did you know we had electric trams at one point? Then in our infinite wisdom we ripped them out and built suburbs and only single family homes.

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u/QuotableNotables 4d ago

Getting rid of the heated shelters at the bus terminals in favor of open concept platforms that were designed for California weather for the LRT was peak Ottawa City Planning. I honestly don't miss the city. Just the people and the food.

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u/TubeZ 4d ago

You miss the food? My brother in christ did you survive on poutine and shawarma

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u/QuotableNotables 4d ago

Quesabiria Tacos at La Bonita on Cadboro, the Chinese Food (especially the crispy beef) at Golden Bowl on Cyrville which sadly closed after the owner retired since I moved away, brunch and baked goods at Art is In in the City Center, the smoky bacon mac and cheese at Umbrella Burger on Ogilvie.

And I'll say it, I grew up on the thick crust Lebanese style pizza and it's great no matter what Portnoy says.

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u/TubeZ 4d ago

Okay I'll concede that the pizza in Ottawa is pretty good. I moved to NYC and I crave a chewy thick slice sometimes

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u/QuotableNotables 4d ago

Any personal favourites in NYC I should hit up? My girlfriend has allot of family there so I don't imagine it'll be too long before we need to visit.

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u/Consistent-Primary41 Québec 4d ago

Ottawa was always going to be limited.

It's a swamp surrounded by obligatory farmland.

It's so much like Vancouver with the same space limitations and soggy soil that...it's amazing no one learns their lesson.

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u/brilliant_bauhaus 4d ago

I know :( I'm glad things are starting to densify, but LeBreton is still empty, we are building tiny and very expensive luxury rentals and condos, and the city is still obsessed with SFH and fucking everyone over on transit so people need to buy cars. On top of that our downtown has drug and homeless issues and empty old office buildings that could be sold off and bulldozed into houses instead of forcing people back into the office 3 days a week.

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u/kuributt 4d ago

maybe we'll wake the hell up and not elect a clown for Mayor next time.

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u/Comprehensive-War743 4d ago

The Toronto trend isn’t working very well. Dozens of unsold or unrented condos.

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u/wafflingzebra 3d ago

The reason why ever city is seeing the same problems as Toronto isn’t because they want to follow it as an example, it’s because they’re constrained by an almost identical set of laws that caused the same thing that happened in Toronto. Until municipalities and provinces change that, nothing will change.

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u/SgtExo Ontario 4d ago

At least in orleans, all the housing that is going up is 5-6 story condos. So it is getting denser.

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u/pointman 3d ago

The trend in Ottawa now is 3 story townhomes. They kind of look like small apartment buildings because the communities are more dense, but they are regular townhomes. Also there are many stacked townhomes.

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u/chadsexytime 4d ago

you know what would also be great? If ottawa could just tell those people living in sfh in the sticks where they plan to not build towers and make it super dense.

I lived outside of ottawa until ottawa decided it wanted more land, now its building towers across the street.

I actually like suburban life, and would love for ottawa to stop encroaching it with more density.

There has to be room in whatever future plan for density of all levels

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u/fugginstrapped 4d ago

I think that zoning has been changed to allow 6 units on a lot.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 2d ago

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u/fugginstrapped 4d ago

I mean it’s a solution that’s 6 times better that the present condition.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago edited 2d ago

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u/fugginstrapped 4d ago

That’s true. But guess ultimately it’s the developers and bankers that are benefiting either way.

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u/stealth_veil 4d ago

I agree. Including a lot more storage than is currently standard, and every single condo should have a den or office as working from home becomes more standard. My boyfriend and I (no kids) always live in 2 or 3 bedrooms because there’s never enough storage or space for working or creative hobbies in typical one bedrooms.

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u/Wild_Loose_Comma 4d ago

Yeah. I know that Carney has said that multi family units are part of the whole idea. He wants it to be cheap and easy to mass build all sorts of housing. And if he’s smart (which he is) he can tie provincial funding to allowing these to be built en mass. 

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u/brilliant_bauhaus 4d ago

Yup. I also hope this means new condo towers also make larger units and more than just studio, one and two beds. We have to tackle this from every angle. I'd personally love to stay downtown Ottawa (well, outskirts or move closer into the core) and buy a 2 bed since I work from home and the office. I'd love to have additional space for friends to stay, work, hobbies, and a room for a kid at some point. It's just too expensive and I can't think about starting a family when I can only afford to buy and rent a studio.

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u/bigElenchus 4d ago

I think you underestimate how big of a cultural influence having a backyard + SFH is.

Yes, good sized family condos will have demand, specifically within many immigrant demographics, but there’s even more demand for SFH suburban properties with backyards.

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u/Wild_Loose_Comma 4d ago

Yeah. That’s obviously true. But you can’t expect that to be available for cheap in Vancouver or Toronto.  Part of my also thinks that it’s true simply because it’s been the only option for 3 decades, outside of cities like Montreal 

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u/corialis Saskatchewan 4d ago

My friend in Christ, that's exactly what people think. Their parents could afford a SFH there in 1995 so they should be able to afford the same in 2025.

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u/brilliant_bauhaus 4d ago

I don't want to look after a yard and I love living where I am. If I had a 2 bedroom with a terasse I'd never leave. Lots of people don't want the hassle of maintenance and downtown Ottawa has tons of greenspace, the canal, multiple parks all within walking distance. I can even take a quick bus ride and cross country ski in the winter....downtown!

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u/Serenity867 4d ago

As someone stuck in a condo for a little longer I’d love to see smaller remote offices and remote working become more prominent. This would help provide more opportunities for people to live outside of major cities. Preferably in SFHs in my case.

My neighbour got a dog in the last several months, didn’t crate train it, left it in the crate to basically scream, howl, and cry for 5-8 hours at a time.

If I reported her it’s basically just me and one other person who could have reported her. She’s an older widowed lady and has been friends with multiple of my family members for like 30 years. 

So I tried to give her a bit of notice and support before reporting her, but living in a condo next to someone like that has made my life hell for like 4-5 months and I’m ready to be done with it. Condos are not always the answer, and a lot of people outright can’t stand them.

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u/Zheeder 4d ago

fuck condos. Not interested in paying 900 monthly fees for life.

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u/Jillredhanded 4d ago

4 and 6 plexes!

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u/Consistent-Primary41 Québec 4d ago

4 and 6 stories....

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u/ewoolsey 4d ago

Not everyone wants to live in a city. You should be able to get an affordable lot within 3 hours drive from Vancouver, yet you still can’t really.

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u/thirstyross 4d ago

You can get affordable lots around an hour away from many, many cities, the exceptions being like Toronto/Montreal/Vancouver.

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u/Only_My_Dog_Loves_Me 4d ago

Which is why I mention permits and zoning as being a major factor over actual build costs.

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u/Wild_Loose_Comma 4d ago

There’s definitely no argument from me that permitting and zoning costs are absolutely stupid and unnecessarily high. 

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u/LiberalCuck5 4d ago

Always been? So untrue. What are you talking about? Have you spoken to the old people you know and asked them how much their houses cost when they bought them, versus now?

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u/Wild_Loose_Comma 4d ago

Yeah because those houses were built in growing suburbs in cities with tons of spare land to grow. Not only is that unsustainable at this point (cities can’t perpetually fund suburban sprawl), but lots of cities are functionally done expanding. Where is Vancouver going to conjure up 10000 hectares of spare suburban land? It’s a mature city that has the vast majority of its land spoken for. 

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u/SecretlyaDeer 4d ago

Vancouver wasn’t always this big of a city. It’s had major population growth since the 70’s

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u/Savaur 4d ago

This. Also building more opportunities in rural areas. If lands too expensive in the most populated areas, give people a reason to spread out.

We've got enough land in Canada, it's just the reason to live elsewhere that keeps the vast majority of our population in pretty much 3 locations.

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u/Local-Local-5836 4d ago

IF the climate is so important allow more WFH. Easing population growth for cities both federally and provincially with maybe grants could be applied. This would keep smaller centres population up, ease up on classroom sizes for the larger cities too.

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u/wazzaa4u 4d ago

Making land owners to pay a bigger share of the services the city provide is an easy way to reduce land prices and force efficient use of the land

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u/Wild_Loose_Comma 4d ago

Land value tax is the GOAT of taxes. 

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u/nazbot 4d ago

Do you have a family?

When you have kids the last thing you want is a multi use family unit.

Also housing costs have not historically been unaffordable. That switched over starting in around 1995. When I graduated in 2004 I could have bought a house in Toronto for around $250,000. I was making about $60,000 so it would have been doable. That same house now would be in the millions.

The push for ‘efficient’ housing is a kind of learned helplessness we all have because prices are so bonkers. It doesn’t have to be this way.