Pause on Building Codes

Updated March 30, 2026

Canada’s housing affordability and supply crisis makes it essential that code changes be evidence-based, cost-effective and implementable at scale. The current national code development and governance model has not delivered on promises of a more transparent, collaborative, and harmonized system. Instead, the 2025 codes were produced on an unusually compressed timeline with a high volume of major changes, limited implementation supports, and insufficient attention to cumulative cost impacts – with more decisions made behind closed doors, less uptake of industry input and with little effort to ensure that all provinces can adopt all national changes.

There is therefore an urgent need for a temporary pause on adoption of the 2025 codes (and a recalibration of the 2030 development work) to: (a) fix identified shortcomings in the new national model code system; (b) correct or defer select 2025 requirements that are high-cost, overly complex, or not implementation-ready; and (c) establish the conditions for harmonized, predictable adoption across provinces and territories.

CHBA Action

CHBA has been leading the charge at the federal level calling for a pause on building codes, providing background and support to provincial HBAs who are urging their governments to pause adoption. 

CHBA has developed the following resources:

• A white paper (March 2026; 52 pages) – This is a comprehensive document explaining the background and reasoning for CHBA’s call to take a pause to fix the 2025 National Building Code before adoption and to create a dialogue on fixing the national code development system for any future codes. It includes an executive summary and extensive table of contents.  
• A CHBA policy position on code changes (5 pages) – This document explains CHBA’s position regarding the building code development process and why a course correction is needed. This document offers a high-level explanation of the issues, and a calculation of the total cost estimate to implement the 2025 codes on a standard home archetype. 
• Letter to the Prime Minister (February 2026; 6 pages) – CHBA sent a letter to the Prime Minster, CCing several key ministers and the President of NRC that uses conversational language to explain the issues. This document may be helpful to craft speaking points. 
• A Letter to Provincial Premiers from provincial HBAs (March 2026) – CHBA drafted a letter, which was signed by all provincial HBAs. The letter is intended for provincial HBAs to send to their respective provincial Premiers.