In defence of new 'ugly,' 'small' government-designed houses

An example of a fourplex in Ontario from CMHC's Housing Design Catalogue. Photo by CMHC Housing Design Catalogue

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The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. unveiled a catalogue of free-to-use home designs this week, which are supposed to make it easier and quicker to get housing approved. The designs are specifically meant for homes to fill the so-called “missing middle” in established lower-density neighbourhoods: not traditional detached single-family homes, not apartment buildings, but the things in between, like fourplexes, six-plexes and laneway houses.

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“By offering technical design packages that give builders and communities a head start in planning new housing projects, the catalogue reduces the time and effort needed to move from concept to construction,” CMHC explains.

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And, like those Victory Homes, most of CMHC’s newly unveiled designs, despite being intended to be built in backyards instead of on boulevards, don’t look much different than newer homes you have seen before (for better or worse).

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A six-unit home like this in Alberta is designed to provide additional density in a variety of neighbourhood contexts., according to CMHC. Photo by CMCH Housing Design Catalogue

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Municipalities will have to play ball to make this work, of course, which is where the rubber hits the road: An off-the-shelf design can’t eliminate red tape on its own, and when it comes to housing obstacles the palaver of designing a new home pales in comparison to how difficult it can be to get any new housing built where neighbours don’t want it. When the anti-development forces of NIMBY meet the pro-development forces of YIMBY, NIMBY is always in with a solid chance.

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And the federal Liberals aren’t known for holding vote-intensive jurisdictions’ feet to the fire. Just as Atlantic Canada got its carbon-tax break for home heating oil because the Trudeau Liberals needed votes there, this week, Toronto received millions in funding under the Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund despite not meeting all the stated conditions, namely that it didn’t keep development charges below where they were in April 2024. The CMHC catalogue can’t solve that.

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That said, few seem to object to the design-catalogue idea conceptually. If you don’t want to use one of the plans, you don’t have to. So, it’s surprising to see how many object to the catalogue on aesthetic and lifestyle grounds.

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“Maybe well-intended, but so is the road to hell,” former federal leader Stockwell Day kvetched on social media. “Some of these (designs) resemble (the) Soviet era.” (When you think of Soviet-era housing, do you think of single-family homes and fourplexes? I certainly don’t.)