CMHC announces Housing Research Award winners

Ottawa, March 3, 2025

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) today announced the recipients of the 2024 Housing Research Awards. The awards recognize research excellence and provide funding to support work that will generate the data and insights needed to address housing challenges in Canada.

An initiative under the National Housing Strategy, the Housing Research Awards recognize outstanding Canadian housing research and provide monetary awards to help project teams to further research, knowledge mobilization and outreach activities that are innovative and impactful. The Housing Research Awards help to build and sustain Canada’s culture of research-based housing knowledge across key fields, including the social sciences and humanities, health, and technology. CMHC administers the program on behalf of the Government of Canada.

A multi-disciplinary panel of experts reviewed the applications following a rigorous set of criteria to identify projects with the greatest potential to produce the data and insights needed by decision-makers to improve housing affordability and better address the housing needs of Canadians.

Quote:

“Thank you to all of those who submitted their work for the 2024 Housing Research Awards, and congratulations to our winners. Your impactful research is essential to addressing housing challenges in Canada. Better information means better housing policy — and more affordable homes for those who need them most.”
— Coleen Volk, CMHC President and CEO

Awards:

CMHC President's Medal for Outstanding Housing Research ($25,000)
This is the highest Housing Research Awards honour, recognizing a significant research contribution that helps achieve the aspiration of making housing affordable for everyone in Canada. The medal is presented to a team or an individual who has researched one of the NHS priority areas. The focus for the 2024 President’s Medal was: Improving the Financial Viability and Sustainability of Affordable Housing in Canada.

Recipient: Daniel Dicaire, Ottawa Community Housing Corporation for the project Sustainable Affordable Housing Total Cost of Building Ownership Analysis. The OCH research team (Daniel Dicaire, and research partners Gordon Downes, Dylan Bennett, Arne Suraga and Rehanna Devraj-Kizuk) used a template 20-storey building and examined five different energy performance scenarios, ranging from built to code or above, to determine which one is more the most economical and sustainable approach in the long term. They used comprehensive energy and economic modelling to examine and compare the assessed value of factors such as energy performance, capital, maintenance and repair and as well as operating costs. With accurate estimates, including initial construction cost and annual operating costs for each scenario over the next 60 years, the team was able to compare the total cost of building ownership for each of the scenarios on equal footing and show which is more economical and sustainable over the long term.

Gold Roof Award for Housing Research Excellence ($12,500)
This award recognizes research that improves our understanding in one of the priority areas of the NHS and leads to impacts within the academic or housing sector.

Recipient: Keagan Rankin, University of Toronto for the project: Providing Affordable Housing Within Climate Limits: A Model of Sustainable Future Growth. Keagan Rankin and research partner Shoshanna Saxe set out to answer the question: “How can Canada build the housing it needs while staying within environmental sustainability limits?” They note that while housing supply must increase by 3.5 million additional units by 2030 to restore affordability, as indicated by CMHC, even current volumes of construction will make it challenging for Canada to meet its sustainability goals. The team gathered extensive data and created a new modelling technique to simulate the construction of future neighbourhoods to determine how 3.5 million additional homes could be built by 2030 while staying within acceptable climate limits.

Gold Roof Award for Knowledge to Action ($12,500)
This award recognizes projects that link excellent research to real actions that are making a difference in the housing sector.

Recipient: James Dunn, McMaster University for the project: The City of Hamilton's Housing Sustainability and Investment Roadmap (HSIR). In June 2022, the City of Hamilton and the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC) began a research-to-action initiative to develop an evidence-based strategic implementation framework to guide the city’s affordable housing efforts. The project was led by James Dunn of McMaster University, with research partners Steve Pomeroy of CHEC and a team from the City of Hamilton. Their HSIR takes a cross-sectoral approach to address housing issues in Hamilton, across four HSIR pillars: new construction; acquisition; preservation; and housing-based supports such help for those facing mental health challenges. It was adopted by Hamilton City Council in April 2023 and implementation is ongoing, leading to a significant impact in the city.

Additional information:

The application portal for the 2025 Housing Research Awards will open this summer. Researchers will be able to apply for funding that recognizes innovative and impactful research, training knowledge mobilization and outreach relevant to housing in Canada. Visit our web site for more information on the Housing Research Awards.

CMHC plays a critical role as a national convenor to promote stability and sustainability in Canada’s housing finance system. Our mortgage insurance products support access to home ownership and the creation and maintenance of rental supply. We actively support the Government of Canada in delivering on its commitment to make housing more affordable. Our research and data help inform housing policy. By facilitating cooperation between all levels of government, private and non-profit sectors, we contribute to advancing housing affordability, equity, and climate compatibility.