COVID-19 Community Affordable Housing Advocacy Plan (The Community Plan)

The Community Plan is a collaboration between The City and over 40 organizations in the public, non-profit and private sectors. The Community Plan intends to leverage economic conditions favourable to real estate acquisition and construction and mitigate potential collapse in the tourism and residential sectors by securing homes for those who need them. 2,800 residential construction jobs could be created across 22 non-profit affordable housing construction projects. 

Calgary needs more affordable housing

Calgary is in need of 2,000-2,500 new affordable homes each year. Over the last 10 years, an average of 300 affordable homes/year have been completed. More than 100,000 Calgary households are forecast to be in housing need  by 2025.

The City's goal is to increase the supply of affordable housing to ensure people at all income levels can live and work in our city.  In these extraordinary times, the ability to stay home will again be a critical tool to effectively manage outbreaks and avoid a second wave of Covid-19 infections.

The Community Plan

The plan proposes two streams of activity. The first stream, intended to rapidly create homes for 600 Calgarians experiencing or at risk of homelessness, would require $58.7M in funding shared between the province and federal government. This stream includes acquisition of 300 homes in hotels and surplus market properties as well as increased funding for Rent Supplements that support people in existing market and non-market homes.

The second stream would roll out over three years and see the development of 4,800 new homes at a cost of $537M. The total includes 3,000 homes ($300M) built or acquired in partnership with the private sector and 1,800 homes ($237M) in 22 previously identified, shovel-ready projects. Almost $186M has already been sourced or committed for the shovel-ready projects which include developments by the City of Calgary, Homespace, Horizon Housing, Silvera for Seniors, The Mustard Seed and others.

The Community Plan was presented to Calgary City Council’s Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, which endorsed it and agreed that it should be forwarded to the Federal and Provincial Governments.

The Committee

The Plan was developed by a committee of 65 individuals from 42 organizations from private, non-profit, and government housing sectors. The group included organizations serving Calgarians experiencing homelessness, seniors, Indigenous people, and families as well as organizations representing non-market rental housing, attainable homeownership, market rental landlords, builders and developers, and Federal and Provincial government representatives.