CMHC to change name to highlight affordability mission

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. will be getting a new name in the coming months, part of a larger rebranding by the federal housing agency to better reflect its changing mandate.

The head of the Crown corporation says the decades-old name overemphasizes the financing of home ownership and does not do enough to highlight housing affordability. Evan Siddall says changing the name would better align with the corporation's present — and its future.

The Liberal government made the agency a key overseer of the national housing strategy.

Federal legislation is needed for an official name change, but Siddall says that doesn't prevent the organization from using a trade name.

A new name along the lines of “Housing Canada” will be the subject of consultations with the 2,000-strong workforce at the agency.

“We've looked at this question of what our brand is, whether we could use something that was different even without a legislative change,” he said. “Those are all things that we've looked at and that I think actually we should do and we've talked about it pretty openly in the company.”

Last year, CMHC set the ambitious goal of providing all Canadians with homes they can afford and meet their needs by 2030.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused an economic hurdle on the path to affordability.

CMHC said last week that about $1 billion worth of mortgage payments were deferred each month during the pandemic. The agency's annual residential mortgage industry report also said fewer Canadians are likely to get ahead on their mortgage payments this year, compared with 2019.

Siddall said the pandemic has significantly changed how governments look at housing among other parts of the economy.