Grading Governments on their Housing Policy Performance
Alberta gets the lowest grade
The Task Force for Housing and Climate commissioned MMI to assess the performance of the federal government and each of the 10 provincial governments in relation to their housing policies. The federal government received the highest grade, B, whereas Alberta received the lowest grade, a D+. The report card is available on the More and Better Housing Canada website.
In 2023, the Task Force for Housing and Climate was established, comprising 15 housing and policy experts. Lisa Raitt and Don Iveson co-chaired it, and MMI’s Mike Moffatt acted as the secretariat. The Task Force has since lost a couple of members, including Mark Carney, who has moved on to other endeavours.
In early 2024, the Task Force released the Blueprint for More and Better Housing, which contained 140 recommendations for three orders of government, based on four goals:
MAKE IT LOW-CARBON: Cut housing-related emissions to meet Canada’s 2030 climate targets.
MAKE IT RESILIENT: Ensure every home built from 2025 onward can withstand worsening climate hazards, aligning with Canada’s National Adaptation Strategy.
MAKE IT AFFORDABLE: Cut the number of households spending more than 30% of their income on shelter costs to zero by 2031.
MAKE IT AT SCALE: Increase the scale and productivity of the homebuilding sector to build 5.8 million homes between 2022 and 2030.
Today’s Report Card on More and Better Housing assess 11 governments across Canada on their policy progress. Given that there are over 140 recommendations in the report, prioritization is necessary. The Report Card assesses the performance of each government based on five criteria:
Legalize density: Focusing housing growth in cities and communities, where there is existing infrastructure like roads and water lines, is faster, less costly, lower carbon and more resilient.
Implement better building codes: Better building form can reduce operating costs, cut emissions, and improve resilience.
Invest in factory-built housing: Support innovations that lower construction costs and standardize affordable, resilient, low-carbon design.
Avoid high-risk areas: The most expensive home is the one you need to rebuild after an extreme weather event.
Fill in market gaps: Even under optimal conditions, many families will be unable to afford market-rate housing. Governments play a vital role in ensuring access to non-market and below-market-rate housing options.
It is essential to note that the report card evaluates the performance of provincial governments, not provinces. This helps explain Alberta’s relatively poor showing, as many of the initiatives driving better housing are coming from municipal governments, rather than the province.
Although no government received an A overall, four governments did receive As on individual components: British Columbia for building code reform, Ontario and Saskatchewan for avoiding building in high-risk areas, and PEI for filling in market gaps.
We hope that governments, the media, and the public will find this report card useful. The report can not only help hold governments accountable, but also identify best practices so that governments can learn from each other and spread good ideas across the country. If this report does prove useful, we would be happy to make this an annual exercise and consider including some of Canada’s largest municipal governments as well.