Calgary city council voted 12-3 to pass its proposed Housing Strategy. .“Council made an important move to help Calgarians with housing affordability tonight,” said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek in a Saturday Facebook post. .The three councillors who voted against the motion were Dan McLean, Peter Demong and Sean Chu. .Gondek said the Calgary Housing Strategy passed with amendments to strengthen its impact. .“This is the most comprehensive strategy addressing the cost and creation of housing in our city’s history,” she said. .“We heard from 162 Calgarians and there were 1,366 pages of written submissions.” .She called the three days of meetings as “utterly heartbreaking, with many people sharing their struggles to find and keep a roof over their heads.”.These challenges have become too common, as current research suggests 100,000 Calgarians are at high risk of losing their homes. .The Calgary Housing Strategy sets a clear path to create 3,000 new non-market homes and assist the market with an additional 1,000 units per year. Many of the actions will have a significant, immediate impact on the housing supply and affordability. .Gondek said its highlights include releasing more under-utilized City of Calgary land for the construction of market and non-market housing. She added the city will dedicate two sites to establish temporary, transitional housing for families experiencing homelessness. .The city will initiate a comprehensive process to notify and engage Calgarians of the proposed repurposing of land to make the Rowhouse-Ground Oriented district the new base land, allowing for different types of housing. It will build at least 400 more secondary suites by providing a $10,000 incentive for each one. .In collaboration with post-secondary institutions, the private sector, and Alberta and Canadian governments, it will dedicate $25 million towards the construction of student housing. It will spend money on existing programs to support people in housing need to access funding for first and last month’s rent. .The City of Calgary published its Housing Needs Assessment report on September 6, identifying present and future affordable housing requirements. .READ MORE: City of Calgary releases Housing Needs Assessment.“Calgary is experiencing a housing crisis,” said City of Calgary Manager of Housing Solutions Tim Ward. .“The latest data published in the Housing Needs Assessment shows us that an increasing number of Calgarians are struggling with housing affordability.”.Gondek proposed three amendments to the Housing Strategy on Tuesday. .READ MORE: Gondek makes changes to Calgary’s Housing Strategy.“They focus on more student housing, more temporary housing for families facing homelessness, and more incentives for building affordable housing,” she said. .She said the first amendment she wants is for Calgary city council to allocate $50 million in funding, of which up to $25 million is to be prioritized for post-secondary residential uses, to the Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program.
