In support of CMHC’s aspirational goal that “By 2030, everyone in Canada has a home that they can afford and that meets their needs”, CMHC’s Housing Data Exchange team are focused on developing a suite of applications and analytical tools that experiment with new ideas, find new ways to publicise housing data-insights, and that help to better understand the needs of Canadians who are vulnerable.

In-line with this focus, they have developed a prototype GIS-based mapping tool (tentatively named the “Core Need Finder” application) that allows users to layer various housing related data-sets to better understand housing need on a local-scale. To determine the initial value of such a tool, they have limited our prototype to four datasets across the 16 largest municipalities in Canada, covering areas such as: Core Housing Need, Social Inclusion, Income Divergence, and Proximity Measures. These datasets are the result of our ongoing partnership with Statistics Canada and are meant to serve as starting point to generate discussion and identify future opportunities for expansion. 

They are currently evaluating the Core Need Finder prototype and would like to present it to the Community Data Program to get feedback and impressions. This feedback would then be used by the team to help determine whether the Core Need Finder application brings additional value to external users (such as Policymakers, Housing Authorities, Researchers, Industry, etc.) and whether or not we should move forward with further development on the application.

Date: Tuesday, February 23, 2021 at 1:30 pm ET

Presenter: Lucas Reinhardt, Senior Analyst, Policy and Operations, Data Exchange, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Recording: