Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) is a Crown corporation, owned by the Government of Canada, founded after World War II to provide housing for returning soldiers. After the war, a serious housing shortage and the return of large numbers of veterans led the government to create the CMHC to promote the development of new housing by offering very low cost mortgages with small down payments and easy terms. It later built and/or funded urban renewal projects in Canada's cities.


Today its main function is providing insurance for residential mortgage loans to Canadian home buyers. This insurance protects mortgage lenders against mortgage defaults on mortgages of less than 20% down. Besides mortgage insurance, the agency provides financing to housing projects and renovations, does housing market analysis and funds research into housing design and technologies along with the National Research Council.


The Corporation reports to the Minister of Labour and Housing and the board of directors and president are appointed by the Government of Canada.


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