A House of Commons committee is demanding the Carney government establish measurable housing construction targets after Ottawa quietly abandoned its longstanding promise to build 500,000 new homes annually to restore affordability.The Commons human resources committee says the federal government must set clear goals and publicly track its progress as Canada faces a housing shortage estimated at up to 4.8 million homes over the next decade.In its report, Housing Starts In Canada, MPs called for greater accountability from federal housing programs, including the government's Build Canada Homes initiative.“The committee heard the federal housing plan should have ‘a clear goal, a reasonable time frame and a set of quantifiable objectives,’” the report stated.Blacklock's Reporter said MPs recommended “that the government publish clear, measurable targets for Build Canada Homes and other federal housing programs relating to the number of units created or preserved, as well as the type of housing and level of affordability.”The recommendation follows the Department of Housing's decision to scrap its target of 500,000 annual housing starts by 2030, a goal Liberal ministers had repeatedly defended.The department confirmed the change in a written response to Parliament tabled September 21.“The framework is designed to move beyond measuring outputs such as housing counts,” officials said.The abandoned target would have required Canada to reach an unprecedented level of residential construction.Federal officials have since acknowledged housing starts are expected to decline rather than increase over the next several years.A June 17 departmental briefing note, Housing, Homelessness And Infrastructure Programs And Initiatives, cited Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) projections showing construction activity weakening through 2028.According to the figures, Canada is expected to record 247,000 housing starts in 2026, falling to 223,000 in 2027 and just 216,000 in 2028.That would leave annual construction in 2028 at less than half the government's former 500,000-home target.Officials attributed the projected slowdown to rising construction costs, weaker demand and growing inventories of unsold homes.“New home construction is expected to decline through 2028 as developers face high costs, weaker demand and more unsold homes,” the briefing note stated.Asked whether Ottawa was concerned about declining construction, the department said it was monitoring developments.“The government is paying close attention to housing starts across the country,” officials wrote.The Commons committee warned that the shortage of affordable housing remains a major challenge.“Canada is facing significant housing supply and affordability challenges with up to 4.8 million additional homes required over the next decade to restore affordability to pre-pandemic levels,” the report said.MPs said witnesses repeatedly stressed that federal housing initiatives need measurable objectives to determine whether government policies are producing results.“Multiple witnesses stressed the need for clear housing targets,” the committee wrote..The government's decision to abandon its construction goal marks a change from previous commitments made by Housing Minister Gregor Robertson.During testimony before the Commons finance committee in 2025, Robertson maintained that Ottawa remained committed to reaching 500,000 annual housing starts.“That is the longer term goal that we had,” Robertson told MPs.Conservative MP Jasraj Hallan (Calgary East) pressed the minister to explain when Canadians could expect construction to reach that level.“When is the first year Canada will build 500,000 homes?” Hallan asked.“The language we have used is ‘over the next decade,’” Robertson replied. “I think it’s reasonable.”The department subsequently dropped the target as federal forecasts showed construction moving in the opposite direction.The committee's latest recommendations would require Ottawa to establish new benchmarks identifying not only how many homes federal programs help build, but also what types of housing are delivered and whether Canadians can afford them.MPs also want the government to track housing units preserved through federal programs, rather than focusing exclusively on new construction.The recommendations come as the federal government faces continued pressure to address housing affordability, with millions of additional homes estimated to be needed over the next decade.Despite abandoning its 500,000-home annual target, Ottawa has not identified a replacement national housing-starts goal in the documents cited by the committee.
