Tasked with figuring out just where Canada’s housing enabling infrastructure stands, the Canadian Infrastructure Council has published the country’s first National Infrastructure Assessment (NIA) report and the findings show there’s significant room for improvement.

Entitled Building Foundations for Tomorrow: Assessing Housing-Enabling Infrastructure Across Canada, the council was specifically directed to examine three public infrastructure sectors: water and wastewater; solid waste management; and public transit and active transportation.

The assessment shows overall more than $126 billion of infrastructure is in “poor or very poor condition,” with 11 per cent of water and wastewater assets and more than 13 per cent of public transit assets listed as in the same boat.

“This first NIA report makes it clear that we can’t build more homes without the essential infrastructure to support them – including water and wastewater systems, waste management, and public transit and active transportation – and that strengthening the resilience of these systems is key to supporting healthy, livable communities,” the council notes in a release.