First standardized housing designs coming in December, but won't be permit-ready until 'early 2025'

New homes are shown under construction in Mount Prospect, Ill., Monday, March 18, 2024. (Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo)

The first iteration of the federal government's standardized pre-approved design catalogue – a revival of a wartime housing effort – will be unveiled in December, CTV News has learned.

Promised as an initiative aimed at speeding up construction, the government will be rolling out a series of standardized construction designs including modular and prefabricated homes.

Canada's housing minister will be announcing Monday that the first batch is set to include "up to 50 conceptual housing designs" that the Liberals have commissioned.

They will include row housing, fourplexes, sixplexes, and accessory dwelling units.

According to the government, the first version of the catalogue will include floor plans, drawings, and "basic information about each of the proposed designs."

Permit-ready and regional building code-compliant design packages won't be available until early 2025.

The design packages will include the necessary specifications and documents related to the construction, as well as estimated costs of building these standardized residences.

The government first announced the project in December 2023, saying then that it was launching consultations in January 2024 with housing sector stakeholders to revive a revised version of a Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CHMC) initiative enacted after the Second World War. 

At the time, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser was aiming to have the catalogue of pre-approved blueprints ready for builders to see by the fall of 2024.

Known as "victory homes" or "strawberry box homes," the sizable federal effort undertaken between the 1950s and 1970s was key to addressing the housing shortages and construction capacity challenges of the time. Many of these homes remain standing across Canada.

"We need to build more homes, faster to end Canada's housing crisis and ensure that everyone has a safe and affordable place to call their own," Fraser said in a statement that will accompany the minister's announcement.

"The Housing Design Catalogue will help get us there by expediting approval processes and building times, and reducing the cost of building," he said.

The government has selected two firms to deliver on the first version of low-rise designs: MGA | Michael Green Architecture, which will work on plans for British Columbia, and LGA Architectural Partners Ltd., which will cover designs for Alberta, the Prairies, Ontario, Quebec, the Atlantic, and the North.

Though, Fraser will also be launching an open submission process that is soliciting additional designs from industry members who may submit existing prefabricated housing builds. Companies who build modular, 3D printed, or panelized houses have until Nov. 8 to submit to be considered for inclusion in the first iteration of the catalogue.

The next iteration of the design catalogue will include mid-rise buildings, for which the federal government will launch a competition to source designs next month.

The 2024 federal budget allocated $11.6 million in 2024-25 to support the catalogue's development.