4. Looking to the future - Canadian Forces Housing Agency Annual Report 2020-2021

In 2021-2022, CFHA celebrates its 25th year of operations. The Agency looks forward to being able to expand its portfolio. The completion of new apartment buildings in Comox will provide more modern housing options for CAF families. CFHA expects to focus on more apartment buildings for future development across the country.

CFHA will forge ahead to meet the new DEES (2020-2023) Target 5 and develop net-zero carbon ready designs for two residential building types by 2023. This will yield housing designs options which are highly energy-efficient and will help the Agency to achieve a longer-term goal of detailing similar design concepts for the rest of its portfolio. CFHA will also be partnering with NRCan as an active participant in its 2 Billion Trees program in an effort to help tackle the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss across Canada.

CFHA will proactively identify additional opportunities in its program delivery for further projects to be set aside and delivered under PSAB in 2021-22 in an effort to support the GC commitment in the Speech from the Throne relating to Indigenous-led procurement.

The Agency will take advantage of the opportunities that have presented themselves as a result of the pandemic to continue improving service delivery to occupants. This means pursuing additional modernization efforts and reviewing changes made to processes this past year to provide better services across the country that are standardized and consistent. In 2021-2022, the Agency will finalize it roll-out of mobile tablets to all sites to streamline inspection processes. CFHA will invest in new digital solutions for housing services including online housing applications and work requests via its occupant portal. The Agency will also seek to improve access to services and the availability of information 24 hours a day. It will also continue moving forward with its mobile workplace initiatives.

As CFHA moves forward, the workspace changes implemented out of necessity in 2020-2021, will serve as the basis of the continued modernization efforts into 2022, as it moves towards the workplace of the future. The Agency will enable improved video conferencing capabilities to maximize pan-agency engagement, taking better advantage of existing Defence 365 cloud-based solutions to further enable operational efficiencies.

CFHA will continue to strengthen as an organization by building on its successes linked to its Excellence Program, pursuing the ideology of “continuous improvement” in the years ahead. The Agency’s next step in its journey will be to apply for the “Order of Excellence” under Excellence Canada’s Organizational Excellence standard.