ModBox Modular receives $1M NOHFC grant to expand modular housing for remote First Nations

What's the deal? ModBox Modular, a Thunder Bay-based company co-owned by brothers Anthony and John McCrae, received $1 million from Ontario's Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (NOHFC) to expand its modular housing operations. The company builds homes for remote First Nations communities in northern Ontario.

The funding is being used to expand ModBox Modular's facility, acquire new machinery, make renovations, and boost production capacity. It will also support new product offerings.

Why now? Housing in remote northern Ontario communities remains difficult and expensive to build using traditional methods. ModBox Modular addresses this by constructing homes in climate-controlled facilities and delivering them nearly complete via winter ice roads — the only overland access to many of these communities.

The company has already established relationships with several First Nations, including Pikangikum, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug, North Spirit Lake, Moose Cree, Deer Lake, and Kashechewan.

What could go wrong? The ice road delivery model is inherently seasonal and climate-dependent. As winters shorten, the transport window could narrow, limiting how many homes ModBox can deliver each year. Scaling production also means the company must match expanded capacity with steady demand and reliable supply chains in a remote region.

The signal: This investment reflects a broader push by provincial governments to back practical, locally rooted solutions to Canada's housing crisis — particularly in Indigenous communities where shortages are most acute. Modular construction is gaining traction across the country as a faster, cheaper alternative to traditional building, and public funding is increasingly flowing toward companies that can prove the model works in hard-to-reach areas.