Build Canada Homes: What Developers Need to Know About the New Investment Policy Framework

The federal Build Canada Homes (BCH) program has released its updated Investment Policy Framework, marking a major step forward in Canada’s effort to accelerate affordable housing delivery. With the new BCH project portal officially live as of November 27, 2025, developers and housing providers can now begin submitting their proposals.

Below is a breakdown of the key highlights for developers, municipalities, and non-profit partners.

🔹 What Projects Are Eligible — And What Aren’t

BCH is narrowing its focus to the most impactful housing solutions:

🚫 Not eligible for BCH funding:

• Emergency shelters

• Long-term care homes

• Single-family homeownership projects

• Commercial-only developments

  
  

✔️ Eligible for funding, with priority given to:

• Transitional & supportive housing ($1B dedicated reserve)

• Conversions of non-residential buildings into rental housing

• Existing rental buildings adding deeper affordability Build_Canada_Homes_Investment_P…

BCH encourages innovation and scalability, leaving room for factory-built solutions, portfolio financing, and creative partnerships.

🏛️ BCH Mandate: Finance. Build. Industrialize.

BCH has outlined three core expectations:

Mandate	Market Signal
Finance	Projects must blend capital sources — BCH is a gap funder, not sole lender
Build	Faster, lower-cost delivery (e.g., streamlined approvals, early contractor involvement)
Industrialize	Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) and standardized design are now expected

This is essentially a roadmap to build housing cheaper, faster, and at scale.

💰 Capital Strategy

BCH wants to catalyze investment — not fully fund projects.

Expectations include:

• Municipal fee waivers

• Philanthropic + impact capital

• Public-private co-investment

• Debt solutions backed by stable rental revenue

The more external institutional leverage, the stronger your application.

🏘️ Prioritized Project Features

BCH has clearly identified what will rank highest in scoring:

Priority	What They Want
Affordability	Rents pegged to 30% of median income, deep affordability bands (0–50% AMI)
Shovel-Ready	Construction start within 12 months (zoning aligned + Class D estimate)
MMC	Modular, panelized, digitally integrated, scalable
Sustainability	Robust environmental standards & lifecycle emissions reductions
Canadian Supply Chain	Domestic materials (strong emphasis on lumber)
Partnership Models	Non-profits, municipalities, Indigenous groups + private developers
Portfolio Submissions	Multi-site bundling encouraged

CMHC will coordinate application assessment, minimizing duplication for Affordable Housing Fund applicants.

Why This Matters

BCH is shifting from funding housing to standardizing housing manufacturing, with the ambition to industrialize supply. For proponents who embrace speed, MMC, and deep affordability — funding approval likelihood rises dramatically.

This creates a window of opportunity for:

• Developers capable of delivering scalable rental platforms

• Non-profits ready to partner with private capital

• Municipalities acting as project aggregators