🍁 civid v1

Status and purpose

• Bill C-287, the Housing Cost Transparency Act, was introduced at first reading on June 17, 2026. It would amend the National Research Council Act.
• It would require the National Research Council to publish housing cost and impact information, governance details and a public registry for certain proposed changes to national model codes.

Proposals covered

• The requirements would apply to proposals that could materially affect residential construction costs, housing delivery or approval timelines, compliance complexity, or administrative burdens.
• Changes that are solely editorial, corrective or consequential would be excluded.
• National model codes include codes on building, fire, plumbing, energy efficiency and related matters developed through the national model code system and published by or under the Council’s authority.

Council powers and responsibilities

• The bill would expressly allow the Council to conduct, assist and promote research and provide technical and administrative support for national model code development. It would require the Council to publish the codes.
• It states that the Council must carry out this role without infringing the jurisdiction and powers of provinces, territories and municipal and local authorities over matters including code adoption and enforcement, permitting, inspections, zoning and land use.

Cost and impact summaries

• For each covered proposal, the Council would have to publish an accessible summary in both official languages when the proposal is first made available for public review.
• Each summary would describe the proposal’s purpose, practical effects, expected benefits and drawbacks, and implications for costs, timing, complexity and administrative burden.
• It would include detailed estimates of incremental initial costs, material operating costs and savings, and other quantifiable benefits, using ranges and stated assumptions where possible. It would identify who is expected to bear the costs and disclose key uncertainties and data limitations.
• If a detailed quantitative cost estimate is not possible, the Council would provide the best available qualitative description and explain why an estimate is impracticable.
• Summaries would also name individuals recorded by the Council as having initiated or formally advanced a proposal, along with their relevant roles and affiliations.

Governance and public registry

• The Council would publish the relevant governance bodies and committees, their members’ names, positions, roles and, where appropriate, affiliations, plus a contact for technical and process questions during public review.
• An accessible bilingual registry would contain each proposal’s summary, responsible body or committee, review milestones, publication and version dates, and current status.
• For each new code edition, the registry would include an estimated combined net impact of incorporated covered proposals on a typical or representative dwelling. It would also contain annual summaries of code development, proposals received, and recurring cost-estimation and transparency issues.

Effect and enforcement

• The bill would affect the Council and people involved in or affected by residential code proposals, including proponents, committee members, builders and other parties expected to bear costs.
• Failure by the Council to publish, maintain or update the required materials would not invalidate a national model code or a related action or legislative measure by provincial, territorial, municipal or local authorities.
• The provided text specifies publication timing for individual summaries but does not state a dollar cost for implementing the bill or a coming-into-force date.