One Year After Blanket Rezoning
by Melanie Swailes on behalf of the Development and Transportation Committee
In May 2024, a majority of City Council plus Mayor Gondek voted in favour of blanket rezoning. On August 6, 2024, the changes came into effect: all R-C1 (single family) properties are now R-CG, “a residential designation that is primarily for rowhouses but also allows for single detached, side-by-side, and duplex homes that may include a secondary suite.” What this means is that a property which formerly held a single house might now have as many as eight separate dwelling units (four main units plus four secondary suites).
What Has Happened Since?
According to the latest data from StatsCan, more than 90,000 people moved to Calgary in 2024. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s recent report, Calgary also has the highest number of housing starts per capita compared to other large Canadian municipalities. According to the City of Calgary (March 24, 2025), “Calgary also saw remarkable growth in building permit numbers and residential permits, recording the highest housing starts in Canada with 20,165 units, setting a new record and making 2024 the first year Calgary surpassed 20,000 units.” In other words, a lot of people have arrived in Calgary and a lot of building has been done!
In November 2023, the Government of Canada and the City entered into an agreement to fast-track more than 6,800 housing units above Calgary’s annual baseline over three years. As of February 28, 2025, The City has reached 83 percent of the original target, with 34,594 out of 41,858 units, within the first year of a four-year contract.
• 94% complete multi-unit housing near transit (10,019 of 10,627)
• 74% complete missing middle units (11,888 of 15,959)
• 99% complete multi-unit units (4094 of 4,098) and
• 25% complete non-market units (186 of 740)
The accelerated building levels might not come as a surprise to anyone who has driven around established areas such as Capitol Hill or Bowness, where it seems there are new multi-unit developments on every street. After blanket rezoning, developers no longer need a Council Hearing to change the zoning on most lots which had a single house on them, which is why there are so many eight-unit dwellings (dubbed “octo-plexes” by the Better Infill group in Edmonton) being built. This is achieving the goal of building more units, but what about the affordability part of the goals?
Out of over 20,100 housing starts in Calgary, only 186 were “non-market” units. Calgary defines non-market housing as “Rental or for-sale housing provided for income groups not served by the private market. It is typically made affordable through public and/or non-profit ownership of housing units, or through rent supplements that allow low-income households to access housing in the private market.” In Calgary, a household is deemed to be in need of affordable housing if it “earns less than 65 percent of the median income and spends 30 percent or more of its before tax income on shelter costs. According to 2021 census data, median income was $98,000, 65 percent of median income is $63,700.”
During the Blanket Rezoning public hearings, many individuals spoke about their need for more affordable housing. However, it seems that the majority of housing being built is higher-end housing, which is more profitable to developers or investors, but which is not where the greatest need lies. For every new rowhouse which gets built, usually an older house (which often contained a suite, legal or otherwise) was torn down, so some of the old “cheaper” rental units are removed. Those looking for lower rental costs have to hope that eventually enough gets built that some rent reductions trickle down to them, but overall, the City is behind on the targeted number of non-market units. (As an example of a non-market building, near the Varsity fire hall, a 48-unit housing development is almost at the completion stage.)
The initial physical impacts of blanket rezoning are easy to see in some neighbourhoods where there are new buildings on almost every street, but the impact on affordability is harder to determine. Is the City building the right kinds of housing? What do you think? What have your family members experienced?
As I’ve written many times before, our community is not a blank slate. Redevelopment should be sensitive and contextual to what is already there, as is already mandated in the Municipal Development Plan and the Infill Guidelines. If you wish to have input into what that looks like, get involved. Read and learn. The City is planning a new Zoning Bylaw, with even more substantial changes (https://www.calgary.ca/planning/city-building-program/city-building-program/the-zoning-bylaw.html).
If you would like to join our Community Association, you are always welcome to do so. Contact the office at [email protected] or at 403-284-3477.
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