The federal government is set to launch a catalogue of pre-approved home designs to help speed up the process of building new homes for developers, similar to an approach taken after the Second World War.

In an announcement Tuesday, Housing Minister Sean Fraser said the government will begin consultations to develop the catalogue in January.

Fraser says it is a bid to bring back a policy from the post-Second World War era when the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. developed blueprints to speed up the construction of homes.

Sometimes the solutions we need can be found in our history books.

Canada’s “war-time” housing response created simple pre-approved designs that could be built quickly, to build homes we needed when our soldier came home.

It’s time to take that idea into the 21st century. pic.twitter.com/GlCtHLWEoa

— Sean Fraser (@SeanFraserMP) December 12, 2023

“In order to build more homes faster, we need to change how we build homes in Canada. We are going to take the idea of a housing catalogue which we used the last time Canada faced a housing crisis, and bring it into the 21st century,” said Fraser.

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“This is going to help accelerate future developments, and tap into new and innovative construction methods that will make a real difference in building communities across Canada.”

Nearly 80 years ago the federal government’s Wartime Housing Corporation launched a home-building program.

Built in the 1940s, 50s, and early 60s, they were known as Victory or Strawberry Box houses because of their resemblance to fruit crates.

These homes are still standing across Canada, with some of the streets of areas like Hamilton’s east mountain lined with the war-time bungalows and one-and-a-half storey houses adorned with what have become iconic steep roofs.

The builds provided the modest and affordable homes that were needed at the time.

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The new initiative from the Liberal government is expected to expedite the building process by standardizing home designs that will begin with low-rise builds.

Officials say it will also explore a potential catalogue to support higher-density construction, such as mid-rise buildings, as well as modular and prefabricated homes.

The federal government says it will also be exploring ways to support municipalities, provinces and territories in implementing similar catalogues in their locales.

Plans for the project will be created through consultations with partners and stakeholders across the housing sector.

Those consultations will begin as early as January 2024.