Home construction in Canada is set to draw on a housing plan implemented in World War II as a solution to provide housing for the country’s rapidly growing population. The Justin Trudeau Liberal government pushed mass immigration, bringing in about a half a million people every year through approved channels, and an undocumented number of illegal immigrants, which, along soaring costs, have led to a country-wide housing shortage. Housing Minister Sean Fraser told Global News Tuesday morning the program, Wartime Housing Ltd. from 80 years ago. is going to make another appearance. The purpose of the plan, which became Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), is to get standardized, pre-approved blueprints out to building companies, which can quickly build modular homes in factories, while the foundations and basements are being built simultaneously. The plan was used from the ‘40s to the ‘70s for quick, pre-approved home building, and under it hundreds of thousands of homes were built. Some Canadians might remember these structures as “strawberry box” houses or “victory homes,” and many of these houses still stand today. “In many instances, these homes were being built in a period of about 36 hours and we intend to take these lessons from our history books and bring them into the 21st century,” Fraser said at a press conference in Ottawa Tuesday. “We are going to be moving forward with a catalogue of pre-approved designs at the federal level,” he said, adding the Liberal government intends to kick off consultations in January 2024, and have a program ready for builders by September. “I will be looking for pre-approved designs for multiplexes, for mid-rise buildings, for student housing, for seniors, residences and other small-to-medium scale residential properties,” he said. “This will include garden suites and laneway homes and different kinds of houses that will solve the challenges that our communities are facing today.”Canadians will not be required to use this process, Fraser noted. Homes will still be able to be built outside of the new pre-approved method, but it won’t be as efficient.“The catalogue of pre-approved designs, is going to be tied to existing building codes — the National Building Code, which we will seek to make changes to in the future — but will also be designed to mirror the requirements of provincial building codes that are implemented across the country,” he said.“We’re going to ensure that the pre-approved designs meet the standards to access CMHC programs so we can reduce the administrative barriers on applicants who are seeking to go through the process.”
