Canadian Design and Construction Report staff writer
A report released Wednesday at the State of Canada’s Cities Summit outlines a roadmap for tackling the country’s housing and infrastructure crises, highlighting how local construction innovations—from mass timber modular panels to municipal investment strategies—are outpacing traditional top-down approaches.
The report, Learning from What Works: Leveraging local solutions to make better places, was released by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and the Canadian Urban Institute (CUI). Following a national competition that drew 120 submissions, the organizations selected 89 finalists demonstrating how local innovation is driving meaningful change in housing supply, workforce development, and climate resilience.
For the construction and development sectors, the report serves as a catalogue of scalable solutions to the industry’s most persistent bottlenecks: labour shortages, zoning delays, and the high cost of pre-development risk.
“We launched this initiative to shift the national conversation from what’s broken to what’s working,” said Karen Chapple, director of the School of Cities. “These projects prove that Canadian communities are not waiting for permission to act. They’re already building the future they want to see.”
Industrializing construction to boost supply
With the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) estimating the country needs up to 480,000 housing starts annually until 2035 to meet demand, the report leans heavily on off-site construction methods to bridge the gap.
Among the highlighted Ontario innovations is Assembly Corp, a Toronto-based company transforming mid-rise delivery through mass timber. By treating buildings as products rather than bespoke projects, Assembly Corp designs standardized modular timber and light-frame wood panels manufactured off-site.
According to the report, this approach cuts project timelines in half and reduces carbon emissions by up to 60 per cent compared to traditional methods. By exceeding energy code requirements by 20 per cent, the model offers a predictable path for developers navigating increasingly stringent environmental regulations.
Similarly, Muskoka-based Tooketree Passive Homes was recognized for its development of SEED (sustainable, ecological, efficient, and durable) panels. Adapted from European prefabrication methods, these panels allow for the rapid assembly of high-performance building envelopes.
Tooketree has sequestered 105,000 kilograms of carbon and delivered 65 housing units to date. Notably, the company is addressing the skilled trades gap by partnering with Keepers of the Circle, an Indigenous women’s organization, providing nearly 5,000 hours of on-site training to bring underrepresented groups into the construction workforce.
De-risking development
Beyond physical construction, the report identifies municipal policy shifts that are unlocking capital for affordable housing.
The City of Edmonton’s Affordable Housing Investment Program (AHIP) was spotlighted for its approach to pre-development risk—a major barrier for non-profit developers and construction firms. Through AHIP, the municipality acts as the first investor, providing up-front capital that allows providers to mitigate risk and secure provincial and federal funding.
The model has proven highly efficient: for every dollar the city contributes, it secures approximately four dollars from other orders of government. Since 2019, the program has facilitated the creation of over 2,400 affordable units, triggering significant construction activity in the region.
Addressing the missing middle
Regulatory hurdles remain a significant drag on housing starts. The report highlights mddl, a national initiative helping small-scale developers and builders navigate the complexities of “missing middle” projects—multiplexes and infill housing that bridge the gap between single-family homes and high-rises.
By offering educational tools and working with municipalities to fast-track approvals for pre-approved designs, mddl is effectively creating a new pipeline of work for smaller construction firms. The organization has already supported policy initiatives in Calgary, Kelowna, Edmonton, Regina, and Saskatoon, including the launch of 10-day building permit approvals in Kelowna.
Workforce and social procurement
As the industry grapples with a retirement wave, the report emphasizes the role of Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) and social procurement in rebuilding the trades pipeline.
Buy Social Canada was recognized for its work on the New St. Paul’s Hospital redevelopment in Vancouver. As the third-party monitor for the project’s mandatory CBA, the organization helped generate nearly $100 million in social procurement spending and $200 million in local procurement spending since construction began in 2023. This framework has integrated social enterprises into the supply chain, creating employment pathways for marginalized workers directly within the construction sector.
In Toronto, the Inclusive Local Economic Opportunity (ILEO) initiative—convened by United Way Greater Toronto and BMO—is actively feeding the skilled trades pipeline. Their “Construction Union Employment Pathway” focuses on the Greater Golden Mile in Scarborough. The program provides residents with six weeks of training and paid placements on local construction projects, creating a direct link between major infrastructure investments and local workforce development.
Scaling for resilience
The report also touches on the retrofit economy, a critical growth area for Ontario contractors. The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s (TRCA) Sustainable Neighbourhood Action Program (SNAP) was cited for its holistic approach to revitalizing aging towers.
The Black Creek SNAP project, for example, executed deep retrofits on the San Romanoway Towers, combining building envelope upgrades with green infrastructure to address flooding and heat risks. This model is now being replicated in Hamilton and Peterborough, signaling a growing market for specialized retrofit contracting.
Mary W. Rowe, CEO of the Canadian Urban Institute, urged government and industry leaders to look at these local successes not as anomalies, but as blueprints.
“Local solutions move at the speed of trust,” Rowe said. “This report is a call to action for governments and funders to invest in what’s already working, support civic infrastructure, and trust communities to lead – and to scale it all with care.”
The full report, including details on scaling these innovations across different jurisdictions, is available through the University of Toronto’s School of Cities.
