However, the board is appointed by the Government of Canada and the agency is directly accountable to Parliament through the Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities.

[9] In 1941, the Government of Canada established the Wartime Housing Limited (WHL), a crown corporation that built and managed thousands of rental units for World War II workers and veterans.

[11] Evidently, rather than focus on low-income housing, the federal government instead initiated a post-war program between 1944 and 1945 that promoted home ownership and private enterprise.

The housing situation was exacerbated by the demobilization of the Armed Forces, the influx of war brides from overseas, the rapidly increasing family formation rate, and the continuing short supply of building materials and workers.

[11][12] In December 1945, the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation was incorporated by act of the 19th Canadian Parliament, taking effect on 1 January 1946.

[13] In the late 1940s, CMHC transformed an abandoned munitions factory complex in Ajax, Ontario, into Canada's first fully planned, self-sustaining industrial community.

[14] Following the beginning of WWII in 1939, the Government of Canada expropriated most of the farmland in what is now southern part of Ajax to establish the Defence Industries Limited Pickering Works munitions plant.

[15][16] The government-owned plant employed workers from different parts of Canada, and the site—along with the residences and the facilities established for the munitions workers—evolved into a self-contained community constructed and operated by WHL.

After considerable controversy regarding land and water control, CMHC submitted a successful application to the Ontario Municipal Board in May 1950, making Ajax an improvement district.

Regent Park in Toronto, Ontario, was the first urban renewal project, where 42 acres (17 ha) were cleared to build the 1056-unit, low-rent housing development in 1950.

[4][14] In 1954, the Government expanded the National Housing Act to allow chartered banks to enter the NHA lending field.

[citation needed] The 1960s marked CMHC's shift in focus towards municipal planning and development to help cities deal with rapid urban growth.

[3] During this period, for the first time in Canadian history, multi-unit apartment buildings were beginning to outpace housing starts for single-family homes.

[14] Also that year, CMHC funded the design and development costs of Habitat—designed by architect Moshe Safdie for Expo 67 in Montréal—which demonstrated higher-density housing and led to many advances in materials and construction.

[3] In 1971, CMHC introduced the Assisted Home Ownership Program (AHOP) to appeal to first-time buyers and help low-income people attain homeownership.

[4][14] With preservation of historic neighbourhoods and downtown living also becoming a priority, in 1973, CMHC oversaw the transformation of Vancouver's Granville Island, a run-down industrial area, into a successful culture and tourism center.

[4][14] In 1974, CMHC introduced the Residential Rehabilitation Assistance Program (RRAP) to repair substandard homes to a minimum level of health and safety and to improve the accessibility of housing for disabled persons.

[citation needed] In 1983, CMHC received the 1982 United Nations Peace Medal for promoting a better understanding among people of the Economic Commission for Europe countries as host of a study tour on housing, building, and planning.

[22] CMHC also introduced two on-reserve loan insurance products during the first half of the decade, enabling Band Councils or Aboriginal persons to access CMHC-insured financing for the construction, purchase or renovation of single-family homes or multiple residential properties, and an insurance pilot designed to increase market housing on-reserve.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, then-CEO Evan Siddall warned home buyers that their support for homeownership "can't be unlimited.

[36] This is far below the median property prices in population centers such as Toronto and Vancouver, leading to concerns regarding the efficacy of the program in these areas.

During their 2019 federal election campaign, the Liberal Party of Canada promised to expand this program to better help buyers in Toronto and Vancouver.

[39] This assists registered banks to be more liberal with lending policies, making it easier for residential buyers to obtain mortgages.

[39] CMHC's securitization guarantee programs enable approved financial institutions to pool eligible mortgages and transform them into marketable securities that can be sold to investors.

Introduced in 2012, the framework supports financial stability by helping lenders to further diversify their sources of funding and by attracting more international investors, thus making the market for covered bonds more robust.

[45] CMHC provides regular housing market analyses and forecasts at the local, provincial, and national levels.

[45] These activities support informed business decisions, policy development at all levels of government, and housing program design and delivery.

As a public mortgage insurer, CMHC has a mandate to provide service in all parts of the country and for a range of housing forms.

CMHC, on behalf of the Government of Canada, invests approximately CA$2 billion annually to help reduce the number of Canadians in housing need.

Through CMHC, the Government of Canada provides funding each year to address housing needs in First Nations communities.