Why housing choice matters

Expanding housing opportunities

The reality is, finding a home that meets more Calgarian’s needs has been challenging. The housing market should have a supply that meets your unique needs that’s within your budget, no matter where you’d like to live, or the type of home you prefer. This includes:

·       a variety of housing options

·       the choice to rent or own

·       a variety of housing sizes and types

Providing more housing diversity in Calgary means more opportunities for everyone to find a place that they can call home.

Our Municipal Development Plan (MDP) is our strategic roadmap that informs The City’s workplans to attract businesses, revitalizes our downtown and how our communities adapt to growth and change throughout Calgary. It encourages Calgary to have a wide range of housing types, tenures (renting and ownership options), and a population base that supports diverse neighbourhoods. Specifically, this policy document outlines:

·       Have a mix of housing and tenures, including single detached, ground-oriented (e.g., duplexes, row houses, attached housing, accessory dwelling units and secondary suites), medium and higher-density and mixed-use residential developments.

·       A range of housing choices for all stages of life, in terms of the mix of housing sizes and types to meet affordability, accessibility and lifestyle needs of different people and family types.

Housing choice helps renew older neighbourhoods

A big part of building a great city is providing attractive housing options to welcome more people into older neighbourhoods. It means having fresh groceries close to you, enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the park, and the local kids won’t need to travel over an hour to get to and from school.

Here’s just a few benefits in having more attractive housing options:

• Walkable neighbourhoods with amenities like schools, parks and grocery stores
• Attraction of new business and people to Calgary
• Creation of interactive spaces that encourage connection and a sense of togetherness
• Long-term support towards a sustainable and greener future, through things like access to pathways and transit to encourage low-carbon modes of transportation
• Costs to maintain utilities, roads, and sidewalks and other amenities are shared among a larger population, helping to keep property taxes down

The challenge: declining vitality in older neighbourhoods

Creating attractive neighbourhoods doesn’t happen overnight and requires thoughtful changes over time. Right now, more Calgarians are leaving older areas in favor of newer developments, which threatens the sustainability and livability these areas over time.

Our current municipal zoning rules are limiting the range of housing options, which is increasingly not meeting the needs or budget of many Calgarians. Without attractive housing options, needs are not met, and these areas will continue to experience a decline in population, vibrancy and quality of life.