As the need to address Canada’s housing crisis grows more pressing, McMaster University is introducing a new housing policy specialization in its innovative Master of Public Policy Program.

Graduate students in the new stream, which is accepting applications now, will be able to focus their policy studies on the complexities of housing policy in Canada.

“Canada’s housing crisis demands dedicated policy attention,” says housing policy expert Jim Dunn, director of the Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative and associate dean, (Research) in the Faculty of Social Sciences.

“With the Parliamentary Budget Office estimating a need for 658,000 additional homes by 2030, this program is timely and crucial. It addresses the urgent need for informed policy solutions to tackle issues like growing unhoused populations, declining home ownership, and housing affordability.”

Dunn is spearheading the new specialization, which will begin in May, with students working alongside those in the MPP program’s Digital Society stream over the Spring-Summer term. In the Fall and Winter terms, each stream will include seminars and skills labs tailored to its specialization.

For students in the housing specialty, this includes two new graduate seminars: The Fundamentals of Housing Policy; and Cross-Sectoral Perspectives on Housing Policy.

They will also take two skills labs: Stakeholder Management and Policy Informatics.

Like the MPP in Digital Society, the program will be delivered primarily online, with hybrid options available on a course-by-course basis. The first cohort of the housing specialization will graduate in 2026.

The launch of the program has been supported and informed by a range of key stakeholders across Canada’s housing policy sector.

Applications are open until Jan. 27. Click here to submit your materials.