In recent years, housing – and in particular, access to adequate and affordable housing – has been top of mind for Canadians, from low-income households to those wishing to purchase their first property. One important component of this issue is supply that targets affordability. In 2021, the federal government announced a new Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) to help municipalities accelerate the supply of additional housing units across the country.

Over the course of seven meetings, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (the committee) conducted a study on options for the design and implementation of the Housing Accelerator Fund, receiving testimony from senior federal officials, municipalities, industry associations, First Nations organizations, and non-profits, as well as numerous written briefs. The committee also received testimony related to the Federal Lands Initiative (FLI), through which surplus federal land is made available to eligible developers for the creation of affordable housing. This report outlines the committee’s findings.

Through oral and written testimony, witnesses made recommendations on the Fund’s design, the housing needs it should address, and different ways the fund can support municipalities to increase housing supply. The committee heard that HAF resources should be rapidly distributed to a range of community types, from large urban centres to rural, northern and Indigenous communities; be flexible and stackable with other housing supply programs; and prioritize increasing the supply of affordable housing in particular. The committee believes that a wide range of measures must be eligible under the Fund – from municipal capacity development, to zoning and other policy changes, to property acquisition – to enable housing supply that meets the needs of diverse communities across Canada. The committee also calls for the reform of the FLI to ensure that surplus federal lands can be more effectively and rapidly used for the development of affordable housing that reflects the needs of diverse Canadians, including Indigenous communities.