A new report from the Canadian Infrastructure Council finds that Canada won’t be able to meet its aspirational housing targets without building more enabling infrastructure.

The document, Building Foundations for Tomorrow: Assessing Housing-Enabling Infrastructure Across Canada, is the CIC’s first-ever assessment of housing infrastructure, such as roads, water and wastewater, waste management and public transit services.

"Grounded in data, research, and insights from across sectors and regions in Canada, this first NIA highlights both the scale of Canada's core infrastructure challenges and opportunities ahead,” said CIC Chair Jennifer Angel. “It's a call to think differently about how we plan, manage, invest, and build smarter, more resilient systems. This NIA is intended to be the first of many, and we look forward to continuing the conversation on how to ensure we are building the future that we want."

The report, which was prepared based on consultations with more than 150 experts, highlights key pressures – such as aging assets, climate risks, regulatory burdens, fiscal constraints, and workforce shortages – and identifies opportunities to make smarter use of existing systems, strengthen coordination across sectors, and plan for the future with data and resilience at the forefront.

Among its key findings:

• Infrastructure must be tailored to regional realities: Regions across Canada face unique infrastructure needs shaped by varying climate and population pressures – needs that can be met only with planning, data and investment that is tailored to regional and community realities. 
• Building new infrastructure faces significant constraints: Building new infrastructure faces barriers including workforce shortages, supply chain disruptions, uncertain investment and regulatory burdens that often delay and/or increase the cost of needed development.
• Significant opportunities exist to meet future needs with existing assets: Improved planning, asset management and operational funding, combined with technological advances and the use of natural assets and nature-based solutions, are cost-effective solutions to many infrastructure challenges.

The report also makes a series of recommendations for improving infrastructure delivery. These include:

1. Making the most of existing built and natural infrastructure before building new. Before investing in new infrastructure, communities should recognize and optimize the services already provided by existing infrastructure to ensure that every dollar spent delivers maximum value. Key actions include maximizing services from existing built and natural infrastructure, managing service demand to avoid costly expansion, and investing in innovative projects that deliver multiple benefits.
2. Strengthening coordination across all partners. Addressing Canada’s infrastructure and housing challenges requires coordinated action among all orders of government, Indigenous nations and the private sector to share knowledge and resources, leverage expertise, reduce barriers and align investment for maximizing impacts. Streamlining regulations, seeding innovation and establishing a pan-Canadian project pipeline can improve efficiency and predictability, attract investment and support vital infrastructure projects to get built.
3. Building for the future with resilience and data at the forefront. To ensure infrastructure stands the test of time, governments and industry leaders must make forward-looking, evidence-based decisions that account for evolving climate conditions, population trends and regional differences in risk and capacity. This includes adopting standardized data and tools, transparent risk assessments and climate-resilient designs to avoid costly future retrofits or repairs.

"The release of the NIA marks an important first step towards equipping decision-makers with the evidence, data, insights, and tools needed to plan and deliver housing-enabling infrastructure more strategically,” said CIC vice-chair Peter Weltman. “Our goal was to bring together all interest holders, from policy-makers to infrastructure operators, around a shared foundation upon which we can continue to build."

Housing demand in Canada is expected to continue to increase in the short-term as the population may grow up to 46 million in 2035. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimates that 290,000 housing units need to be built annually to close the housing gap. That figure is 65,000 units more per year than are expected.

Solving the housing crisis means ensuring that infrastructure systems, like transit, water and wastewater and waste management, can support the added population. Relying solely on aging, and in some cases overstretched, infrastructure to accommodate a growing population risks exacerbating existing challenges.

Statistics Canada data from 2022 finds that 11% of housing-enabling infrastructure was classified as being in poor or very poor condition, with an estimated replacement value of $126 billion. The state of water and wastewater infrastructure is similar poor, with more than 11% of related assets in need of repair. Additionally, more than 13% of public transit assets at risk, and solid waste infrastructure is approaching capacity limits. 

The Canadian Construction Association has thrown its support behind the CIC’s findings.

President Rodrigue Gilbert said the assessment reinforces a message the industry has long emphasized: Canada cannot build more homes without the enabling infrastructure required to support them.

"We are pleased to see the NIA clearly recognize that housing cannot accelerate without major improvements to water and wastewater capacity, solid waste management, and public transit access," said Gilbert. "These are the foundational systems that determine whether communities can grow."

The association adds that while the NIA provides an important national roadmap, it says further action is needed in other key areas.

• Workforce gaps: The report focuses primarily on engineering students, without addressing the broader construction trades, vocational training, and apprenticeships critical to meeting labour demand.
• Data limitations: The NIA provides a snapshot of infrastructure conditions using 2022-2023 data but lacks a plan for regularly updated, comprehensive information to guide evidence-based decisions.
• Annual publication and stakeholder engagement: CCA recommends an NIA be published annually, developed with extensive engagement of relevant stakeholders, reflecting diverse perspectives, and using evidence from infrastructure, economic, and growth data to support long-term asset management planning.
• Future scope: While the current NIA focuses on housing-enabling infrastructure, future assessments should also address transport and trade-enabling infrastructure to strengthen economic resilience and bolster our supply chains.

"The assessment provides a clear national vision, but delivery depends on coherent policy frameworks that support it," said Gilbert. "To turn these findings into action, we need a workforce strategy that reflects real labour-market needs, fair, open, and transparent procurement policies, supply chains that remain resilient under new domestic sourcing rules, and internal trade policies that break down barriers between provinces. Without these elements, even the strongest infrastructure plan risks stalling on implementation."

Meeting Canada's housing and infrastructure demands over the next 25 years will require a transformative shift in how infrastructure is planned, maintained, financed, and delivered across the country, the CIC says. Its report is intended to serve as a resource for governments and infrastructure owners, operators, and investors to support informed and strategic infrastructure planning and decision-making.

The Canadian Infrastructure Council is an expert advisory body that launched in December 2024 with the aim of delivering Canada's first NIA.