Building affordability, sustainably
CAGBC's Advocacy team on September 16, 2025
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The Canada Green Building Council (CAGBC) welcomes the government’s launch of Build Canada Homes (BCH), particularly for the emphasis it puts on innovation, smart technologies, and low-carbon materials in homebuilding.
The BCH agency is a key test of the government’s ability to deliver on housing affordability at scale . From CAGBC’s perspective, affordability cannot be achieved without sustainability. How Canada builds today will determine how we ensure long-term affordability for tomorrow’s homeowners and renters.
While the BCH announcement highlights how homes should be built—through innovations, smart technologies, and low-carbon materials—the agency’s mandate must further ensure that affordability is delivered through sustainable practices. True affordability only comes when families are protected from high monthly utility bills and costly retrofits down the line.
Affordability & sustainability: Two faces of the same coin
In a letter to the Minister of Housing this past August, CAGBC underscored that the BCH mandate must be anchored in two indivisible priorities: affordability and sustainability. Affordability ensures that rents remain within reach, while sustainability shields low- and moderate-income families from energy price volatility.
The stakes are significant. In 2023, about 14 percent of Canadian households—and 18 percent among low-income households—struggled to maintain safe indoor temperatures due to rising energy costs. Alarmingly, 2 percent reported going without heating or cooling altogether. With utility costs projected to continue rising, constructing and retrofitting homes to higher energy efficiency standards is essential.
High-performing buildings consistently reduce heating, cooling, and electricity costs, allowing residents to retain more of their income. Over the long term, they prevent the “pay twice” problem—where tenants and owners shoulder the cost of initial construction only to face early retrofits when buildings fail to meet future climate requirements and affordability wanes in the face of utility cost increases.
By adopting performance-based sustainability requirements, BCH can improve affordability and resilience while delivering better quality housing. This integrated approach strengthens inclusive communities while aligning with Canada’s broader housing and climate objectives.
Supporting measurable outcomes
To maximize this generational investment in housing, CAGBC urges the government to incorporate measurable sustainability outcomes into BCH projects and financing programs. Specifically, we recommend the adoption of performance intensity targets for energy use, thermal energy, and greenhouse gas emissions. These targets drive accountability and ensure that public funds deliver lasting results.
Only by accepting that affordability and sustainability are intrinsically linked can the government deliver the future-forward housing Canadians deserve—homes that are energy-efficient, healthy, resilient, and affordable.
Find out more about our recommendations and research on achieving affordable, attainable and sustainable housing:
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