Building Homes with Canadian Wood: Turning Housing Ambition into Delivery  

Canada's housing challenge is no longer a question of ambition. Since FPAC’s first housing policy brief was released in November 2023, governments across the country have announced housing targets, funding programs, and policy initiatives aimed at increasing supply and restoring affordability. The challenge now is delivery.

As housing demand continues to outpace construction, policymakers are increasingly confronted with a difficult reality: traditional approaches alone will not produce the volume of homes needed at the speed Canadians require. Labour shortages, declining productivity, regulatory complexity, rising costs, financing constraints, and inconsistent approval processes continue to limit the pace of homebuilding.  

Canada's forest sector can help address this challenge.

Wood-based modern methods of construction, including prefabrication, panelized light-frame systems, modular construction, and mass timber, offer practical pathways to build housing faster while supporting affordability, domestic manufacturing, workforce development, and lower-carbon construction. These approaches can reduce construction timelines, improve productivity, support year-round production, and help deliver more homes using Canadian materials and expertise.  

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From Forest to Front Door

Canada already possesses many of the ingredients needed to scale housing delivery.

The country has extensive forest resources, established wood products manufacturing capacity, a growing ecosystem of innovative construction firms, and increasing interest in factory-built housing solutions. Yet many manufacturers are operating below capacity and remain hesitant to expand production because demand remains fragmented, unpredictable, and short term. Without stable project pipelines, businesses face challenges investing in workforce development, automation, and new product lines.  

FPAC's housing policy brief argues that solving Canada's housing challenge requires moving beyond isolated interventions toward an integrated forest-to-factory-to-front-door delivery system that better connects housing policy, procurement, manufacturing, workforce development, innovation, and sustainable fibre supply.  

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How Federal Government Can Help Increase the Use of Canadian Wood in Homebuilding

To help translate housing ambition into homes built, FPAC recommends five federal actions:

1. Finance Factories, Not Just Buildings

Federal housing investments should support the manufacturing capacity needed to deliver housing at scale. This includes financing tools that enable companies to expand production, invest in automation, and respond to longer-term demand signals.  

2. Standardize Procurement and Designs to Enable Scale

Canada cannot industrialize housing delivery if every project is treated as a one-off. Governments can help accelerate delivery by supporting standardized procurement approaches, pre-approved designs, model approval pathways, and aggregated purchasing models that provide greater certainty for manufacturers and builders.

3. Invest Based on Results

Housing investments should prioritize measurable outcomes, including affordability, emissions reductions, reduced material waste, and scalable delivery models. Public investment should encourage repeatable systems capable of producing housing at greater speed and volume.

4. Embed Workforce Capacity into Housing Policy

Workforce shortages remain one of the largest constraints on housing delivery. Housing and industrial policy should better align with employer demand by supporting skills development, apprenticeship completion, workforce attraction, credential recognition, and training capacity.

5. Clear the Barriers That Slow Housing Down

Governments can accelerate housing delivery by advancing evidence-based code harmonization, reducing certification delays, supporting innovation, and improving coordination across regulatory systems that affect construction and manufacturing.  

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A Practical Path Forward

Canada's housing challenge cannot be solved through a single program or policy change. Success will depend on strengthening the connections between manufacturing, workforce development, procurement, approvals, innovation, and housing demand.

Canada's forest sector is ready to be part of that solution.

By creating the conditions needed to scale wood-based housing delivery, governments can help build more homes, strengthen domestic manufacturing, support economic growth in communities across Canada, and improve housing affordability for Canadians.

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Read the full report to learn how Canada can turn housing ambition into delivery through its forest sector.