Rounding out a week of announcements, the Prime Minister’s Office announced on April 5th, funding to support innovation in the construction sector. Totaling $600 million, the funding package will: 

• Allocate $50 million to launch the new Homebuilding Technology and Innovation Fund, and seek to leverage an additional $150 million from other levels of government and the private sector to increase the adoption of innovative building technologies.  
• An additional $50 million to support the modernization of home building through regional development agencies, which will leverage existing programs already underway including, “modular housing, mass timber construction, robotics, 3D printing, and automation;” and  
• $500 million of dedicated funding through the Apartment Construction Loan Program for new rental housing built using innovative techniques. These could include prefabrication, modular construction, and other approaches. 

The announcement also launched a Housing Design Catalogue to standardize up to 50 different building blueprints. There will be $11.6 million in the 2024 Federal Budget to create frames for modular homes, row homes, and fourplexes which can be utilized by jurisdictions to accelerate approval and construction timelines.