On Sunday, Prime Minister Mark Carney gave an update on his government’s initiatives that included the following statement about housing:
“On housing, we’re taking a solution from the past, modernizing it, and creating a new housing agency to build affordable homes faster and transform the housing sector in the process. It’s already up and running. And though we have a ways to go yet, housing affordability is already improving. For example, asking rents across Canada are at their lowest level in nearly three years. (At 5:15 in the video https://www.ctvnews.ca/video/2026/04/19/the-us-has-changed-and-we-must-respond-carney-talks-us-ties-in-address-to-canadians/)
Let’s fact check that statement. Carney is correct about rents declining, but the implication—that the new agency, Build Canada Homes, has something to do with rent declines—certainly is not accurate. It’s simply not possible. Build Canada Homes only launched in September 2025, and although it has announced agreements to build about 9,400 new homes plus another 7,500 for the military, most units haven’t even started and none are finished.
Average rents across Canada starting falling 18 months ago, 11 months before Build Canada Homes even launched. The peak for average one- and two-bedroom asking rents in Hamilton came in the summer of 2023 and across Canada that fall. (Note however: The Hamilton-Burlington area saw average rents increase in early 2026, though they are still below peak.) Average prices to buy a home peaked across Canada, and in most parts of Hamilton, in February 2022.
And let’s be clear: Housing has not become affordable, just a bit less unaffordable. Despite small decreases, average asking rents, in Hamilton and across the country, are still unaffordable for the majority of renters. And despite decreases in prices, you’d still need an income of about $200,000 a year to qualify to buy the median-priced home in the Hamilton-Burlington area, according to the most recent National Bank affordability report.
Build Canada Homes needs to fund, as quickly as possible, hundreds of thousands of homes—and ultimately several million. And not just any homes—non-profit and co-op homes that are permanently affordable for low- and middle-income Canadians. Hamilton alone has more than 24,000 households that can’t afford rent above $1,075 (2021 Census numbers).