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Evan Siddall Returns to Federal Housing Policy to Chair Build Canada Homes
The federal government spent a decade funding housing indirectly, loans to builders, grants to cities, tax incentives for developers. Build Canada Homes is the end of that era. The new Crown corporation, operational by late 2026, will deploy federal capital directly into residential projects. Its inaugural chair is Evan Siddall, who ran the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from 2014 to 2021 before leading the Alberta Investment Management Corporation.
The appointment signals something structural. Siddall's first tenure at CMHC was spent managing risk and designing programs others would execute. His new role puts him in charge of an institution that doesn't just insure or advise, it builds. Or more precisely, it makes projects bankable enough that someone else will build them. That difference matters for what the corporation can actually accomplish.
Why the government created a separate builder
CMHC has three core functions: mortgage insurance, housing research, and program administration. Adding direct project involvement would have stretched its mandate beyond recognition. Build Canada Homes splits off the activist work, assembling land, fronting equity, negotiating with municipalities, so CMHC can remain a regulator and insurer without conflicts. The 3.5 million unit shortfall projected by 2030 became the political justification, but the structural reason was simpler: the federal government wanted a vehicle that could sign development agreements without rewriting CMHC's governing legislation.
The timing aligns with the end of the low-rate era. Between 2020 and 2024, private apartment starts collapsed as construction financing costs doubled. Provinces blamed municipalities for slow zoning approvals. Municipalities blamed the feds for cutting infrastructure funding. Build Canada Homes is Ottawa's way of stepping past that deadlock. If the province won't approve density and the private sector won't front the equity, the Crown corporation can.
What Siddall brings from his CMHC years
During Siddall's previous tenure, CMHC shifted from a quiet mortgage insurer to the driver of the National Housing Strategy. He was known for public comments on household debt and overvaluation, views that put him at odds with the real estate industry but aligned with the central bank's warnings at the time. That willingness to name structural problems in plain terms is part of why he's back. The housing file in 2026 doesn't need diplomacy. It needs someone willing to say no to projects that don't pencil and yes to the ones that do, quickly.
His stint at AIMCo adds a capital markets lens. Pension funds and insurers have tens of billions available for residential projects if the risk-return looks right. Making those deals happen requires fluency in both government process and private finance. Siddall has both. Whether Build Canada Homes acts as an equity partner, a mezzanine lender, or a guarantor will depend on what each project needs to close. The flexibility to choose is the point.
The execution risk no one is naming
Crown corporations move slowly. Build Canada Homes will have a board, a CEO reporting to that board, approval processes involving three levels of government, and procurement rules designed for accountability rather than speed. Siddall's job as chair is governance, not operations, he sets strategic direction, he doesn't approve site plans. The gap between "federal government commits capital" and "shovels in ground" remains wide, and that gap is where most ambitious housing programs have died in the past.
The other risk is overlap. CMHC still runs the Apartment Construction Loan Program, which finances rental projects at below-market rates. Build Canada Homes will do something similar but with equity stakes instead of loans. Whether those two programs compete or complement each other depends on coordination no one has tested yet. Siddall knows both institutions. That's either the solution or a source of friction, depending on how clearly the mandates get separated in practice.
The federal government spent a decade funding housing indirectly, loans to builders, grants to cities, tax incentives for developers. Build Canada Homes is the end of that era. The new Crown corporation, operational by late 2026, will deploy federal capital directly into residential projects. Its inaugural chair is Evan Siddall, who ran the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation from 2014 to 2021 before leading the Alberta Investment Management Corporation.
The appointment signals something structural. Siddall's first tenure at CMHC was spent managing risk and designing programs others would execute. His new role puts him in charge of an institution that doesn't just insure or advise, it builds. Or more precisely, it makes projects bankable enough that someone else will build them. That difference matters for what the corporation can actually accomplish.
Why the government created a separate builder
CMHC has three core functions: mortgage insurance, housing research, and program administration. Adding direct project involvement would have stretched its mandate beyond recognition. Build Canada Homes splits off the activist work, assembling land, fronting equity, negotiating with municipalities, so CMHC can remain a regulator and insurer without conflicts. The 3.5 million unit shortfall projected by 2030 became the political justification, but the structural reason was simpler: the federal government wanted a vehicle that could sign development agreements without rewriting CMHC's governing legislation.
The timing aligns with the end of the low-rate era. Between 2020 and 2024, private apartment starts collapsed as construction financing costs doubled. Provinces blamed municipalities for slow zoning approvals. Municipalities blamed the feds for cutting infrastructure funding. Build Canada Homes is Ottawa's way of stepping past that deadlock. If the province won't approve density and the private sector won't front the equity, the Crown corporation can.
What Siddall brings from his CMHC years
During Siddall's previous tenure, CMHC shifted from a quiet mortgage insurer to the driver of the National Housing Strategy. He was known for public comments on household debt and overvaluation, views that put him at odds with the real estate industry but aligned with the central bank's warnings at the time. That willingness to name structural problems in plain terms is part of why he's back. The housing file in 2026 doesn't need diplomacy. It needs someone willing to say no to projects that don't pencil and yes to the ones that do, quickly.
His stint at AIMCo adds a capital markets lens. Pension funds and insurers have tens of billions available for residential projects if the risk-return looks right. Making those deals happen requires fluency in both government process and private finance. Siddall has both. Whether Build Canada Homes acts as an equity partner, a mezzanine lender, or a guarantor will depend on what each project needs to close. The flexibility to choose is the point.
The execution risk no one is naming
Crown corporations move slowly. Build Canada Homes will have a board, a CEO reporting to that board, approval processes involving three levels of government, and procurement rules designed for accountability rather than speed. Siddall's job as chair is governance, not operations, he sets strategic direction, he doesn't approve site plans. The gap between "federal government commits capital" and "shovels in ground" remains wide, and that gap is where most ambitious housing programs have died in the past.
The other risk is overlap. CMHC still runs the Apartment Construction Loan Program, which finances rental projects at below-market rates. Build Canada Homes will do something similar but with equity stakes instead of loans. Whether those two programs compete or complement each other depends on coordination no one has tested yet. Siddall knows both institutions. That's either the solution or a source of friction, depending on how clearly the mandates get separated in practice.
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