British ColumbiaThe program, called Digitally Accelerated Standardized Housing (DASH), is an online building tool that uses standardized designed and pre-fabricated building blocks to help design three- to six-storey multi-family housing projects.Victoria-based builders’ group says DASH tool won’t address deeper issues within municipal approval processes Emily Fagan · CBC News · Posted: Nov 20, 2025 5:38 PM EST | Last Updated: November 21Listen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.B.C. Housing Minister Christine Boyle speaks at the Legislature on Thursday with former Victoria mayor Lisa Helps with B.C. Builds. The province announced a new digital tool meant to speed up prefabricated home construction. (Emily Fagan/CBC)B.C. has launched software to help prefabricated homes get approved and built faster, which Housing Minister Christine Boyle says is intended to help address the province’s challenges with housing affordability and supply.The program, called Digitally Accelerated Standardized Housing (DASH), is an online building tool that uses standardized designed and prefabricated building blocks to help design three- to six-storey multi-family housing projects.The tool is a “first in Canada” program that will speed up approvals and lower costs for developers and non-profits, according to Boyle.“DASH is a game changer,” she said. “It brings together everything that builders, developers, architects and manufacturers need to create homes.”WATCH | Expert weighs in on prefabricated homes:Can prefabricated homes solve Canada’s housing crisis?Alex Boston, an urban planner with Boston Consulting, maintains labour constraints are one of the biggest impediments to more housing. He says that Canada may not be able to build its way out of a housing crisis, but it may be able to manufacture its way out using prefab homes. He praised recent federal commitments to exploring this method for building homes at scale.The DASH website is available now — though former Victoria mayor Lisa Helps, who is the executive lead for project origination with B.C. Builds, says it’s a prototype that she hopes to get further feedback and testing on.Helps says her team helped to create this tool alongside the residential construction industry, and she expects it to be fully scaled up over the next five to seven years.Architects can use the province’s “rules-based generator” – which is not based on artificial intelligence, Helps said – to select one of the province’s standardized designs and tailor it to the property they’re looking to build on.“It’ll take into account municipal zoning, nearby buildings, making sure not to overshadow the neighbours,” said Helps.“It gives architects these new digital tools, and then frees up time for more creative work to make sure that these buildings fit beautifully into neighborhoods.”Former Victoria mayor Lisa Helps, who is now with provincial housing organization B.C. Builds, says DASH will take municipal zoning into account. (Emily Fagan/CBC)The process will take the program about three to five minutes to complete, she said, instead of the typical two to three weeks for an architect to draw up these designs.Prefabricated parts are used to construct the building, which Helps says is intended to expedite manufacturing and construction.Prefab homes are one of the options experts say could help improve the housing inventory in Canada. During the election campaign, Mark Carney and the now-elected Liberal Party promised about $25 billion in loans to the prefabricated homes industry. Complex approval processesCasey Edge, executive director of the Victoria Residential Builders Association, says he has doubts about the extent to which DASH will ease complex approval processes. Most of the challenges he encounters are on a municipal level – and without standardized rules for floor space calculations and other parts of the permitting process, which can take months of disputes to resolve, he’s not convinced this resource will help much. Instead of DASH, Edge says he wishes the province would standardize that process — along with reducing municipal and regional fees, such as community amenity contributions.WATCH | Metro Vancouver chair weighs in on prefab homes:Is modular housing the solution to B.C.’s affordable housing crisis?Burnaby Mayor Mike Hurley, who is also the chair of Metro Vancouver, weighs in on prefabricated homes and how they’re being used as part of the spectrum of housing solutions in the region.“It’s another initiative that doesn’t really address the real problems of building homes efficiently and affordably,” said Edge.“The reality is that the municipalities control whether housing gets approved or not — and so unless you have enforced, standardized rules with respect to that, rolling this stuff out isn’t going to make any difference.”However, Stephan Corriveau, a Montreal-based consultant on community housing issues, says municipalities will be able to input their own bylaws into the system to help design projects according to the local regulations. The program also provides templates to help municipalities standardize their bylaws, he said. While he expects there will be a learning curve for contractors and builders, overall, he thinks DASH will improve efficiency.“I think it’s an excellent initiative,” he said.“Anything that can help standardize and simplify doesn’t mean that it will be lower quality, doesn’t mean that it will be less tasteful … it just means that it will make more sense to do.”With files from Jennifer Magher
New B.C. tool intends to speed up prefab housing approvals, construction
