CMHC needs to develop/adopt and utilize a measure of housing quality
The Issue:

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is a major Canadian Crown corporation.  One of CMHC’s key roles relates to housing research. Sound research requires appropriate measures.  CMHC continues to pursue its corporate objective of facilitating access to more affordable, better quality housing for all Canadians.  CMHC dedicates the following resources to this objective:  $209 million of operating expenses, $4.1 million of government appropriations, and 1250.1 staff-years (CMHC Corporate Plan Summary 2007-2011, p. 28).  Yet, CMHC still does not have a measure of housing quality! 

In July 2006, CPBH representatives met with the CMHC President and CMHC Vice President Policy and Planning and raised the need for CMHC to develop a measure of housing quality.  In that July 2006 meeting, CPBH representatives provided the CMHC executives with a copy of a study out of the United States that found that new home quality in the United States had worsened since 2004.  CPBH encouraged CMHC to develop/adopt and use a measure to determine Canada’s housing quality, and to communicate the results to Canadians.

Unfortunately, CMHC still has not developed/adopted a measure of housing quality and has not committed to undertake to develop/adopt a measure of housing quality. This response from the CMHC executives has been surprising.   In the July 2006 meeting, CMHC executives stated that CMHC believes the quality of Canadian housing is good, but they acknowledged that CMHC should be seeking to improve it.  How do they know what the quality of Canadian housing is when they currently have no means of measuring it?

Canadians for Properly Built Homes' Position:
Canadians for Properly Built Homes is calling on CMHC to develop/adopt and utilize this measure to monitor Canada’s housing quality.  This is a basic requirement for CMHC’s focus of ensuring better quality housing for all Canadians.  As a major Crown corporation that conducts research relating to housing, CMHC should be able to demonstrate, through a sound measure of housing quality, what the quality of Canada’s housing stock is.  This is also key for CMHC to be able to measure its performance relating to its Corporate Plan objective of facilitating access to more affordable, better quality housing for all Canadians.

What can concerned citizens do?

• Write or telephone your Federal Member of Parliament and request that he/she ensures that CMHC develop/adopt and utilize a measure of Canadian housing quality.
   
• Write or telephone the Federal Minister responsible for CMHC:   The Honourable Monte Solberg, House of Commons, Ottawa, ON, K1A 0A6, E-Mail: Solberg.M@parl.gc.ca, Telephone: (613) 992-451