By Canadian Press

CMHC has projects underway to help build greener housing in Canada

Nov 9, 2021 | 11:51 AM

OTTAWA — The chief climate officer for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the federal agency has “lots underway” to encourage the construction of more sustainable housing. 

Steven Mennill says a first priority will be developing standards for what makes a residence more or less sustainable. 

While the agency does have decent measures for energy efficiency and overall energy performance of a building, he says there are other variables in assessing a home’s environmental sustainability that have yet to be scoped.

Mennill says the hope is that creating these standards will help different levels of government form better housing policy by having information on the climate impacts of those decisions.

Jeff Morrison, executive director of the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association, says one move he’d like to see come from the CMHC is allowing housing providers to include the incremental costs associated with building greener in their funding applications.

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While Mennill did not provide details on when new programs will be introduced, he said the agency does intend to be “very active” in 2022.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2021.

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This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.

The Canadian Press