About the Canadian Housing Information Centre
The Canadian Housing Information Centre, the corporate library of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), is the most extensive housing research source in Canada.
Collections
The collection is made up of both CMHC and non-CMHC material, consisting of approximately 80,000 books, reports and publications; 180,000 images in the Photo Library and over 3,000 scientific, academic and technical periodicals in the fields of housing and community development.
CMHC Material
A significant portion of the collection is material published by CMHC, going back to CMHC’s beginnings in 1946. Included are annual reports, statistical and housing market reports, research reports on technical and socioeconomic aspects of housing, pamphlets, brochures, images, program information, newsletters, magazines and more. Also housed in the Information Centre is CMHC’s historical house plan collection, from CMHC’s house plan program which ran from the 1940s to the 1970s.
Non-CMHC Material
Complementing the CMHC material is third-party information published by other government departments, commercial publishers, and the housing industry worldwide. This includes published works on topics such as:
- construction materials and best practices
- housing design
- housing finance
- energy efficient, sustainable and green building
- community development
- affordable housing
- housing policy
- aboriginal housing
Access to the Collection
For clients external to CMHC, access to the collection is provided via the library catalogue, where clients can search and find materials to meet their research needs. Items of interest may then be borrowed from the collection by contacting the interlibrary loans facilities of their local library. Clients needing to do in-depth research onsite may contact us to make an appointment at chic@cmhc.ca.
