The federal housing minister says he wants to ramp up the lagging pace of homebuilding in some provinces by bringing developers off the sidelines and into Ottawa’s affordable housing projects.

Gregor Robertson also said in an interview that the feds’ new Build Canada Homes agency is working on getting Canadian banks and pension funds to play an active role in financing affordable homes.

Robertson sat down with The Canadian Press recently as MPs returned to the House of Commons and Prime Minister Mark Carney rolled out the Liberals’ latest affordability policy — a top-up to the GST credit pitched as a way to help Canadians cope with the rising cost of groceries and other essentials.

Robertson, a first-time MP turned cabinet minister and the former mayor of Vancouver, acknowledged that housing has long been a pain point for households struggling to make ends meet.

Nine months into his mandate, Robertson said he is focusing his efforts on the lowest rungs of the housing ladder, where people are most vulnerable.

“I’m very focused on delivering affordable housing as a critical piece for improving affordability in Canada,” he said.

Build Canada Homes launched in September with an initial $13 billion capitalization. The agency was tasked with scaling up affordable or “non-market” housing and carries much of the burden of a Liberal promise to double the pace of home construction.

The term “non-market” indicates projects that typically have support from government or other sources, allowing units to be rented out below market rates.

While most Canadians won’t live in non-market housing, Robertson said mixed developments — with some affordable units and others offered at market rents — can help to stimulate more activity across the price scale.