Housing and Affordability Task Force Recommendations
Submitted by Melanie Swailes on behalf of the Development and Transportation Committee
At the June 6 City Council meeting, the Housing and Affordability Task Force presented their recommendations. After a vote, the Motion was defeated by a vote of 8 to 7. The next day there was a “reconsideration of the vote” along with further amendments and the Motion was carried (approved). If this sounds confusing, it was.
You may be wondering how anyone could have initially voted against affordability measures: as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. What may seem simple, has complicated details that are likely not so straight-forward.
The Task Force website is https://engage.calgary.ca/HATaskForce.
On the right side of this webpage, under Document Library, there is a link to the Recommendations. This is a 13-page detailed document, and you need to read it to form your own opinion.
What were the Task Force’s six recommendations? The verbatim recommendations as listed in the report are:
1. Make it easier to build housing across the city.
2. Make more land available to build more housing across the city.
3. Ensure that the supply of affordable housing meets the needs of Indigenous people living in Calgary and Equity-Deserving populations.
4. Convene the housing sector to facilitate greater collaboration.
5. Increase the investment to support housing providers.
6. Ensure more individuals have a safe place to call home.
Most people would be supportive of these goals. So how does the Task Force propose that they can be achieved? Let’s look at some of the details in #1 – “Make it easier to build housing across the city”. Some of the proposals include:
Make the base residential district Residential-Grade-Oriented (R-CG) with guidance for single, semi-detached, row, and townhouses into a single land use district. (R-CG allows primarily for townhouse or rowhouse building forms that face the street with a front door access; four units plus four secondary suites could fit “sideways” on an existing R-C1 lot.)
Enable secondary suites and backyard suites on one parcel of land. (This means there could be a basement suite and a backyard suite on the same property; right now, only one or the other is allowed, but not both.)
Remove minimum parking requirements in all residential districts.
Advocate to the Government of Alberta for legislative change to the Municipal Government Act to allow affordable housing to be defined in a manner that exempts it from certain planning process requirements such as public hearing, which increases certainty and reduces timelines for developers and providers.
If these sound like major changes, they are. The details in the 13-page summary document are important to avert a “why didn’t I know about this?” response later when there is an application for a rezoning next door to you. Opinions will likely be divided and only you can determine if you think these measures will be beneficial. Councillors will be voting on this in September and they need to know what you think.
While many of the proposals are intended for redevelopment in Established Areas such as Brentwood, some recommendations would impact new communities as well. For example, under #5 – “Increase the investment to support housing providers”, there are potential changes to the Municipal Reserve (MR).
The City currently acquires open space lands (such as local and community parks) primarily through the 10% Municipal Reserve dedication as part of the subdivision process, and through direct purchase on an opportunity basis. Would you be supportive of reducing the 10% figure “to dedicate a portion of the Municipal Reserve for the purpose of establishing land banks in all new communities for Affordable Housing (for example: 1/5 of the overall 10% dedication)”?
The central question: do you think these recommendations will have the desired effect of increasing affordable housing options in Calgary? Do you think that building more intensely on existing R-C1 lots (i.e., building a townhouse/rowhouse or adding secondary suites) will make more housing available at a lower cost? Or do you think that building should be focused on many of the larger existing brownfield areas (such as Westbrook LRT area, Victoria Park, Midfield Park, Stadium Shopping Centre, etc.)?
Housing has changed a great deal since the 1960s when Brentwood was developed and we’re now seeing the effects of the financialization of housing. Houses are often viewed as commodities that can generate a large return on investment and as a means of accumulating wealth: they have become attractive for reasons other than just as a place to live long-term or to raise a family. Prices are climbing while affordability is plunging, leaving many people looking for solutions.
The Task Force made its recommendations, but unfortunately, Community Associations and “regular” citizens were not part of the discussions. If this concerns you, please learn more and get involved. Attend a Brentwood CA meeting in September, attend the Annual General Meeting in September, and join your community association.
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