Federal government, CMHC unveils standardized housing catalogue in Kitchener
Posted Oct 15, 2025 12:08:24 PM.
Last Updated Oct 17, 2025 04:02:33 PM.
The federal government has partnered with CMHC to develop standardized designs for homes in Canada, looking to hurdle some of the red tape in the development process and get homes built faster and more efficiently.
The Housing Design Catalogue includes designs for single homes, duplexes, detached homes, and much more, crafted specifically for the various biomes and provinces of Canada.
The catalogue was created with help from architects and designers, municipal and provincial governments, Indigenous organizations, and experts in the housing market.
According to the CMHC, the designs were crafted with local building code requirements in mind so that, in time, they can be next-to pre-approved.
This isn’t the first time CMHC has developed a design catalogue. In the post-WWII era, catalogues were published over three decades to tackle Canada’s housing shortage at that time. These new designs aim to tackle today’s housing challenges when it comes to affordability and supply.
“Canada’s new government is stepping up with a bold new approach to increase the supply of housing in Canada, and with today’s release of the Housing Design Catalogue’s full technical designs, we are taking another important step to empower local builders to get shovels in the ground,” said Gregor Robertson, Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, who was on hand in Kitchener for the announcement on Wednesday.
Kitchener Mayor Berry Vrbanovic was also at Wednesday’s announcement, and noted that at first, city staff may need to take a closer look at these designs before approvals.
“This is a catalogue that has been developed nationally, and our team, both in planning and in building, have been working and looking at all of these, so obviously as the first ones come through, it will take a little bit of tweaking, but the team is ready to get these built quickly and efficiently,” said Vrbanovic.
Vrbanovic added that the success of this catalogue depends on developers and their building cycles. There is no funding attached to this project specifically.
