Canada has been feeling the housing crisis crunch for a long time now. Especially if you live in B.C., the idea of ever owning a home keeps becoming a further concept with each passing month.
In order to get more houses built faster, easier, and cheaper, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government released The Housing Design Catalogue for Canada. While this project has been worked on since late 2023, its reveal has people talking– and not in a good way.
Canada And The Housing Design Catalogue
This federal initiative was made to speed up Canada’s housing construction. By providing 50 standardized building plans, the catalogue offers an array of designs that are meant to cut through the red tape and streamline approvals.
This may remind you of Canada’s postwar era when the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) released standardized home plans. The thought process was similar to today’s, in which the ultimate goal was to get homes built quickly and affordably.
It allowed developers to simply pick from a design instead of having to work from the foundation up. Now, the idea has been brought back as Canada is experiencing similar housing problems, but not everyone is a fan of the designs. Much backlash and criticism can be found in Carney’s replies to his October 15 post where he announced the Housing Design Catalogue to social media.
It Looks Like…
The replies were harsh, to say the least.
One X user compared the designs to a news story about North Korea’s State-Approved Hairstyles. Others mentioned that the catalogue reminds them of the Soviet Union, and that they were ugly.
Sounds familiar. pic.twitter.com/ZCUZnUMt35
— cryptoFOXXY (@cryptoF0XXY) October 16, 2025
This sounds like something out of the Soviet Union.
— Zachary Tisdale 🇨🇦 (@ztisdale) October 15, 2025
And, of course, someone spotted that one of the housing plans includes one bathroom, but no bedroom.
Bro one of these “homes” is literally just a shitter with no bed pic.twitter.com/hEJqwfu1n4
— Henry (@hfransoo) October 15, 2025
It’s not hard to see that these designs are not the most aesthetically pleasing. But, plenty of other people online are welcoming the catalogue. Back when the renders were first published in March 2025, there were a number of online conversations about their affordability. Young parents were especially interested in them. These designs could give them the chance to provide their new families with a home of their own.
From being called “decent-looking” to “nice”, clearly not everyone is hating on the catalogue. Still, it’s got plenty of them.
What do you think about the Housing Design Catalogue?
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