Some people came to talk about the lack of inclusivity in Calgary’s housing market. Some came to complain about their neighbours making too much noise. Some complained about the lack of diversity in Calgary’s housing market for special interest groups. One lady showed up, put on a bright yellow bonnet, so councillors would keep their eyes on her, she said, while she made her points using a rubber puppet as her co-presenter. But most of the folks at the City of Calgary’s massive public meeting came to let council know of their displeasure about blanket zoning in the city. Currently about 67% of land in the city is zoned for single-family homes only, which according to the pooh-bahs in city administration is the reason the city is facing high home prices and a lack of available housing supply. Blanket zoning would eliminate single-family home zones completely and allow the construction of multi-family homes, such as fourplex and row houses. High-rise apartment/condo buildings would not be allowed; new builds under the proposed bylaw will not have higher rooflines than single-family homes in any given community. The main concerns expressed by the hundreds of Calgarians in council chambers, as well as in more than 5,500 written submissions, were blanket zoning would put pressure on infrastructure, parking, lifestyles and most importantly, decrease the value of their homes. All very legitimate concerns. The deep thinkers on council and in administration say blanket zoning will solve the problem of a lack of homes available to be bought or rented, as well as reduce prices. City administration is wrong, blanket zoning will do neither in the short term. (Perhaps in the long-term, but the problems are ‘now-term’ problems.) It would take from four to five years to increase housing stock based on older properties selling, development of lots, improvements to infrastructure and construction of new homes. Even though high-rise buildings would not be allowed, high-rise buildings can be ‘laid on their sides’ with any number of multi-family homes adjacent to each other along a city block. Could a developer, or group of people, offer to buy five, six or seven homes along a city block, demolish the old homes and build fourplexes in their place? What of parking, which will be a huge issue? The city says they can manage parking through its permit system, but you can bet there will be more vehicles than there will be permits, or spaces, for parking. Under the new proposal, a builder can put up a four-plex, meaning four ‘apartments’ plus a basement suite and a backyard/secondary suite. If two people live in each unit, you have 12 people living in one building, where before there were maybe four or five. If infrastructure upgrading is required to accommodate more toilets, showers, bathtubs and sinks, who foots the bill? Just the people in the new homes, or everyone on the block, including those who have lived on the block before any new zoning was put in place. New zoning will not be ‘equal’ across the city. Some areas will see more densification than others, some because of location and others solely because of the cost of land. This is where the focus on supply and affordability is misplaced. The leading factor in the increases in the price of homes in Calgary, and every other Canadian city, is the lack of, and the price of, land, which, to paraphrase Mark Twain, “they’re not making it anyone more.” The city is Calgary’s largest landowner and if it’s serious about a new housing initiative, dedicate some of the land it owns to building homes, at no charge. If the price of land is removed from the price of homes, those homes become extremely more affordable and new homes on those lands would create a source of new revenue through property taxes. The old adage is, when bureaucrats are told to design a horse, they always come back with a camel. Going through bureaucracy is akin to navigating a corn maze, difficult and time consuming. Calgarians need a freeway, not a maze, to get a faster, more efficient road to solve what is truly a housing crisis. The public meetings will continue at city hall through the weekend and possibly into next week.
