MP Patrick Weiler, and Mayor Armand Hurford announced June 29 that Squamish joined a national program offering pre-approved home designs, a move they say will speed up approvals for small scale housing projects across the district.
The Housing Design Catalogue, launched last fall, offers more than 50 pre-approved, standardized designs for low rise homes, including laneway suites, duplexes and fourplexes. The plans are meant to cut down the time, cost and uncertainty that often comes with building in existing neighbourhoods. According to the federal government, the catalogue’s technical drawings have been downloaded more than 17,000 times since launch.
By becoming a local partner, Squamish has agreed to pre-review a set of catalogue designs for zoning and building code alignment before builders even submit an application. The district has pre-approved three designs, the BC Duplex, BC Fourplex 01 and BC Fourplex 02. A building permit is still required for any project, but catalogue designs are expected to move through a streamlined review process.
At the announcement, Weiler pointed to Squamish’s track record on housing as a reason the community was well suited to the partnership.
“Long before housing became a national conversation and even a provincial conversation, this community was already taking action,” Weiler said.
He framed the catalogue as one piece of a larger federal push that also includes the Housing Accelerator Fund and the newly created Build Canada Homes agency, which is working with provinces, municipalities and Indigenous communities on affordable and supportive housing. “It’s time to build,” Weiler said in closing his remarks.
Hurford welcomed the designation but acknowledged that Squamish’s housing shortage was still an ongoing issue.
“We still have a crisis here in Squamish with being one of the least affordable places in Canada,” he said, adding that no single program would solve the issue on its own. He pointed to an earlier era of cookie cutter construction known locally as the Squamish special saying the new catalogue offers homeowners a more modern and efficient starting point.
“There’s no one silver bullet,” he said, “but I think this is, I’m proud of the role that Squamish has played in housing.”
Hurford described the catalogue as giving landowners something concrete to work from rather than starting from scratch. “This will give them a much clearer point rather than staring at the blank page,” Hurford said. “It’ll be something that is likely to fit on their property and thus eliminate some of the uncertainty in the process.”
Squamish already hosted a Multiplex Design Competition as an action of the Squamish Housing Action Plan funded through the CMHC Housing Accelerator Fund in 2024. The winning localized designs across three categories, secondary storey dwelling, elevated dwelling and ground dwelling, are also available by contacting designers on the same webpage as the Squamish approved Housing Design Catalogue specifications. Weiler explained the Federal Program’s designs would supplement the earlier local competition designs.
Mayor Hurford said the approved designs were chosen to be as broadly applicable as possible. Though he noted that without a site specific review there is no guarantee every design will suit every lot.
