Deeply affordable housing has not been built at scale in Canada for some time. Today, less than 5 per cent of the housing stock would qualify as deeply affordable, non-market housing. According to CMHC’s Social and Affordable Housing Survey (SAH), there are roughly 593,000 subsidized housing units across the country — most with rents supported by governments or non-profit organizations.
Nearly 60 per cent of affordable housing units are concentrated in just eight metropolitan areas, with the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area alone accounting for 30 per cent. Most of this stock is aging. In the 1980s and 1990s, successive governments scaled back investments in new affordable housing. For a time, CMHC ran a program that provided approximately $2 billion annually to support existing social housing, but this funding has since lapsed.
During the late 1970s and into the 1980s, the CMHC Mortgage Insurance Fund (MIF) faced significant financial challenges. A combination of high unemployment, high interest rates and restrictions on product pricing put growing pressure on the fund, rendering it increasingly unviable.
In response, CMHC restructured its program and the federal government stepped in by advancing funds and writing off a portion of the losses. At the time, CMHC was required to take over the administration of defaulted properties, which led to a substantial inventory of foreclosed homes.
Rather than putting all of these properties on the open market, CMHC transferred many of them to community groups who used these homes for social housing at discounted prices. One such example is Kiwanis Homes, a not-for-profit organization that has provided affordable housing services in Hamilton, Ontario, and surrounding communities since 1982. Today, Kiwanis operates more than 1,100 affordable housing units in the region – many of which were transferred by CMHC.
A number of these units still appear to be managed by the original non-profit groups. Many of these homes could be ideal candidates for redevelopment as higher-density social housing, such as 4- to 8- plexes. They are typically older homes located on larger-than-average lots in established urban areas.
The organizations managing these properties are likely seeking long-term solutions. What they need is a viable financing package to support redevelopment. The key advantage is that the land and infrastructure already exist.
If CMHC experienced a period of 10,000 to 20,000 foreclosures annually, it is reasonable to assume that approximately 10,000 homes may have been transferred to non-profits during that time, which represents a meaningful stock of potential redevelopment opportunities.
If the government wants to target missing middle housing and tackle deeply affordable housing, this is a good place to start. While the estimate is speculative, converting these properties into 8-plexes could potentially yield an additional 70,000 net units in the market. Since most of these properties are likely in Quebec and Ontario, this could also create sufficient ongoing demand for a modular construction facility, provided municipalities implement a streamlined approval process.
Canada faces a significant shortfall in deeply affordable housing, but part of the solution may already exist within our aging social housing stock. By supporting non-profit groups with the right financing tools and accelerating approvals for redevelopment, governments can unlock thousands of new units—quickly, cost-effectively, and where they’re needed most. This isn’t just practical policy—it’s an opportunity to build smarter, denser communities while addressing one of the country’s most urgent housing needs.
Independent Opinion
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