B.C.s catalogue of housing designs is here. Where is Ottawas? – National [Video]

The reveal of a new catalogue of pre-approved housing designs in British Columbia this week is raising questions about when a promised federal counterpart will be available.

And as the cost of living and unemployment rates continue to bite, advocates say the time is now to speed up the federal promise and do whatever can be done to build more homes, quickly — and try to make it easier to build pre-fabricated homes.

“In order to have a factory producing housing, you need a guarantee of a certain number of orders. And that’s very hard to do if you’re working with several different jurisdictions, all of whom have different rules as to what’s allowed and what isn’t,” said Carolyn Whitzman, senior housing researcher for University of Toronto’s School of Cities.

Pre-fabricated housing or prefab construction is a method of building where the bulk of the construction happens off-site, often in …