Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation
Canadian Housing Information Centre (CHIC)
The Canadian Housing Information Centre is the library of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. Located at the National Office of CMHC in Ottawa, it is the most extensive housing information source in the country.
The Centre's collections consist of approximately 80,000 volumes, some 180,000 images, over 1,500 current subscriptions to scientific and technical periodicals as well as a video library. The collection policy is devoted to the needs and objectives of CMHC as a whole, and the collections reflect and support the mandate of the Corporation. The Centre's main holdings are in the fields of housing and community development and include the Corporation's collection of research reports. Other subject areas include management, economics and finance, public administration and public policy.
The Centre is open from Monday to Friday 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
all aspects of housing, planning and community development
There are several sources of repository information available from CHIC.
1. CHIC Library Catalogue http://192.197.69.98/ipac20/ipac.jsp?profile=chic#focus
The library catalogue is accessible from the CMHC website, under Library. It contains records of all CMHC research and publications back to 1946 and other collected works in all areas of housing.
The library catalogue allows you to search by all title browse, title keyword, author browse, author keyword, subject browse, subject keyword, series browse, series keyword, general keyword, document number browse, bibliographic number and barcode.
For most non-CMHC publications, only the bibliographic citation is included. However, if the electronic version of a document is available, the URL will be included in the citation. The majority of free CMHC documents since approximately 2002 include the URL to download the document. All electronic documents are free and are available in PDF format.
2. Housing Research Tools and Resources
The Centre’s staff have prepared these documents for finding housing information and are available under the Library section of the CMHC website:
• Current Housing Research
Published twice per year, this publication will keep you up-to-date on recently published and ongoing research commissioned by CMHC.
• CMHC Research Report Listings by Subject
These listings enable you to see at a glance what research CMHC has published in 30 different subject areas:
Aboriginal Housing
Acoustics
Affordable Housing
Airtightness
Basements, Foundations and Crawl Spaces
Concrete
Condominiums
Cooperative Housing
Environmental Site Assessment and Contaminated Land
Healthy Housing
Heating and Ventilation
Homeless
Housing and Women
Housing for Older Canadians
Housing for Persons with Disabilities
Housing Rehabilitation
Infrastructure
Indoor Air Pollution
Lead
Manufactured Housing
Moisture Problems
Mortgages and Housing Finance
Northern Housing
Rental Housing Market
Newcomers, Immigration and Settlement
Self-Help Housing
Social Housing
Straw Bale Housing
Sustainable Development
Water Conservation, Reuse and Management.
• Compendium of Research
A biennial compilation of completed CMHC research.
• Bibliographies
Listings of material held at the Centre on several popular topic areas. Covers both CMHC material and items found in the library collection:
Bibliography on Sustainable Housing
Bibliography on Moisture Problems in Buildings
Bibliography on External Research Program
Bibliography on Homelessness
Bibliography on Native Housing
Bibliography on Straw Bale Housing
Bibliography on the North
Bibliography on Youth and Housing
Bibliography on Seniors Housing
• Videos
Listing of videos available for consultation at the library.
• Acquisitions List
A listing of the latest materials acquired at the library. Published monthly.
• Housing Journals and Magazines
See at a glance the journals and magazines held by the Centre on the topic of housing.
• Photo Library
The Photo Library is a special facility within the Canadian Housing Information Centre. It is devoted to collecting and providing access to approximately 180,000 images related to housing matters. Users external to CMHC can contact the Photo Library by sending an email to the general mailbox: chic@cmhc-schl.gc.ca
• Housing Internet Resources
Compilation of online sources of housing-related research and information.
Contact information
C1-200, 700 Montreal Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0P7
C1-200, 700 Montreal Road
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0P7
(613) 748-2367
All the documents in the Housing Resources and Tools are also found in the library catalogue, with the exception of Current Housing Research ongoing projects, Photo Library and Housing Internet Resources
