Rezoning for Calgary Housing: Frequently Asked Questions
Rezoning for Housing: Public Hearing Details
When: April 22, 2024, beginning at 9:30 a.m.
Duration: Due to the large number of registered public speakers, the meeting will extend over multiple days. The Public Hearing is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. on April 22 and is expected to end at 9:30 p.m. each day. Council will vote to determine the start times on subsequent days.
Where: Council Chamber, Atrium level, Municipal Building, 800 Macleod Trail SE. Calgary.
Watch Live: The meeting will be livestreamed at calgary.ca/watchlive
Live Agenda: Panel information will be displayed and updated online at calgary.ca/agenda.
Inclusion: For those coming to speak in-person at any council meeting, the City of Calgary offers a Transit Ticket Program that provides two complimentary transit tickets for in-person participants at Council public hearings on the day they speak, as well as a Parking Program, that allows for up to 6 hours of complimentary parking in CPA Lot 36 - City Hall Underground Parkade (322 9 Ave SE.) You can learn more about these programs HERE.
Calgary is in a housing crisis and we need more homes.
One of the Housing Affordability Task Force Recommendations is to implement inclusive zoning throughout the city to help fix our growing housing supply shortage.
How will rezoning help?
Inclusive zoning means more housing can be built faster. By eliminating red tape and streamlining our costs and processes, we are allowing more variety of housing to be built more quickly and with less upfront costs.
Our office has heard from community members asking how changes to exclusionary zoning will affect Ward 9’s established communities. Below are answers to some of the frequently asked questions we’re hearing.
I know Calgary needs more housing, but why does it need to be in my neighborhood? Why can’t housing be built on vacant lots around the city or on greenfield sites/in new communities?
In short, we need more housing everywhere. Ward 9 is home to many of the most sought after communities in Calgary. Communities that people want to live in and move to. We live in a regulated free market system - government does not have the power to compel privately owned vacant lots to develop; nor does it have the power to compel existing privately owned buildings to be tenanted in specific ways. What government can do is incentivize better outcomes in the private sector (there is a wide range of carrots and sticks that can be applied in that regard) and, more importantly, government can work to create a significant supply of non-market housing - which is exactly what our new housing strategy is intending to do. We believe a healthy end state would be ~20% of our housing supply being non-market housing (currently in Calgary non-market housing sits around ~2%.).
Additionally, the demand for homes in established communities is very high. Restricting different types of housing, including ground-oriented rowhouses and townhouses in established communities, will result in demand outpacing supply and further increases in rent and price, reducing affordability. Offering people more choice in the type of housing that suits their needs, including proximity to employment and amenities, can reduce emissions by decreasing travel distance and increasing transportation options. Having more housing options also provides Calgarians the opportunity to live and remain in the same community close to friends, family, and the things we know and enjoy, as our housing needs change over our lifetime.
Lastly, our Citywide Growth Strategy focuses on how and where Calgary invests in growth to achieve the long-term vision described in the Municipal Development Plan and Calgary Transportation Plan, and Council’s priorities of economic, social, and climate resiliency. This vision prioritizes our focus and investment on the Established Area Growth and Change Strategy, while being more discerning about greenfield growth and the creation of new communities that contribute to further sprawl.
Our inner-city neighbourhood has seen a lot of development pressure over the years. Won’t this change just cause more?
A city-wide rezoning approach will help lessen the current pressures on inner-city neighbourhoods. The restrictive zoning throughout most of the city results in added costs and longer timelines for developers to go through the rezoning process. It also means that lots currently zoned R-CG (the bulk of which are in inner-city neighbourhoods) are highly sought after, and often sell for well above market value, simply because it reduces developers upfront costs and timelines significantly (compared to a lot that needs to go through the rezoning process.) Again, the limited supply of these types of lots means less variety of multi-family housing is being built, which in turn drives up prices. By removing exclusionary zoning, multi-family housing can begin to spread throughout Calgary, causing less intensity on the established communities where it is currently allowed to be built.
It’s also worth noting that Calgary communities built after 2013 are already largely zoned RG which allows for a mix of low-density housing choice throughout. A city-wide change will bring the rest of the city up to speed with our thoughtful and more current city building practices.
More Neighbours Calgary shared an article called Visualizing the Impact of Rezoning - it has a lot of helpful information on the realistic visual impacts that rezoning will have on our city, including simulations of what real communities could see in terms of change. Much of the density we can anticipate will largely go unnoticed as new developments will be contextual. Additionally, changes will be gradual and less concentrated in specific neighbourhoods, like we’re experiencing now.
You can view and learn about the Ward 9 R-CG simulation HERE
How can we ensure developers don’t just build more expensive, high-end properties that the average Calgarian can not afford?
The balance between housing supply and demand influences price and availability. It is now proven beyond any doubt that more supply reduces prices across the board - ‘luxury condos’ reduce competition for housing options at lower price points all the way along the supply spectrum. If supply is not keeping up with demand - which is the dangerous situation we find ourselves in right now in Calgary - preventing more supply from coming on line (at any price point) will displace lower income households much more significantly than trying to regulate to keep existing tenants in place when a developer is ready to redevelop individual properties.
Other major cities throughout North America have implemented similar inclusive rezoning reform to much success. Edmonton implemented a similar rezoning policy last year and is quickly gaining traction as a leader in forward-thinking housing reform in North America. (You can watch the full video below,)
People who have lived in our community for years are being displaced and priced out of the neighborhood. How can this help?
Being thoughtful about how we increase density is part of the conversation, especially as we make way for the GreenLine and see increased connectivity in areas like Ogden, Ramsay, and Inglewood. We are hyper aware of the current sweep of development that is pricing residents out of the communities they are connected to, but again, more variety of development to meet the needs of all Calgarians is the ultimate point of rezoning, and a critical step toward affordability. We have a long way to go and we need to get there quickly.
Can our existing infrastructure handle this rezoning change?
Yes. Most established communities, especially those built prior to 1980, are well below their historical peak population. Due to declining population in those areas and higher efficiency houses being built, there is existing infrastructure capacity (roads, transit stops, water and wastewater management, etc.) to handle more types of housing.
Additionally The City has both proactive and regular monitoring and testing for utilities infrastructure. These programs operate in every community throughout Calgary, and help ensure as our infrastructure ages, we are aware of when updates are needed.
We’re seeing the loss of heritage homes to make way for unaffordable infills. How do we retain community character while still creating more housing?
Heritage preservation, while important on a number of fronts, is not really a significant tool in addressing housing affordability. Basically, the older and more run down a housing option is, the lower the cost it can command in the market. For this reason, it’s ideal for every neighbourhood to have as broad a range of housing as possible in terms of the age of that housing - that creates a natural spectrum of affordability with newer units commanding higher prices and older units renting for less relative to each other. When housing reaches a certain end-of-life point and/or when demand to live in that location reaches a certain fever pitch, the question comes down to:
a) tear down the existing structure and build new/more units;
b) renovate the existing structure to give it both a longer life as well as a higher price point; or,
c) identify that structure as particularly important in preserving and connecting with the history of that place, even as it changes.
Both a and b are happening in Ward 9 neighbourhoods, although not fast enough to keep up with demand - half of our housing strategy is focused on removing the regulatory barriers that are preventing supply from keeping up with demand. The only difference between b & c is that, in some circumstances a particular structure is deemed so important historically/societally that Government imposes additional regulations to ensure that the importance of that structure is preserved into the future. Heritage preservation was originally an additional imposition of Government authority on private property rights and resulted in a lot of conflict. The system we’re moving into is one where Heritage Preservation is a collaborative process between Government, private property owners, and communities - although we’re not entirely there yet. When done right, Heritage preservation will add more variety of housing choice to our established neighbourhoods, but not at a scale significant enough to meaningfully address the housing crisis on its own.
Why did Councillor Carra vote against a Notice of Motion to hold a plebiscite on rezoning?
During a Special Meeting of Council, a group of councillors brought forward a Notice of Motion to hold a plebiscite on the city-wide rezoning changes recommended in the City of Calgary's Housing Strategy. This motion was ultimately defeated, with Councillor Carra being among the eight council members who voted against the Notice of Motion.
You can read more about the rationale behind this decision HERE.
Want to Learn More?
You can view recordings of previous community engagement session and learn more, including additional FAQ’s. on the Rezoning for Calgary Housing website. calgary.ca/rezoningforhousing
Share Your Voice
Share your feedback at the Public Hearing on April 22, 2024.
There are three ways you can participate:
Register to speak in-person - Members of the public wishing to speak in person can pre-register using the public submission form. You are also welcome to register to speak when you arrive at Council Chambers on the day of the meeting.
Register to speak by phone - Members of the public wishing to speak remotely can use the public submission form to pre-register. You will receive further information on how to call-in once confirmed.
Write a letter - Members of the public wishing to submit a written comment as part of the official public record may do so by using the public submission form. You are able to include an attachment such as supporting documents,
Additionally, you can copy your comments by email and send them directly to members of council and the mayor by using the online submission form.
For those coming to speak in-person at any council meeting, the City of Calgary offers a Transit Ticket Program that provides two complimentary transit tickets for in-person participants at Council public hearings on the day they speak, as well as a Parking Program, that allows for up to 6 hours of complimentary parking in CPA Lot 36 - City Hall Underground Parkade accessed at 322 9 Ave S.E. You can learn more about these programs HERE.
Learn more about how to share your feedback and participate in council meetings HERE.
Still Have Questions?
If you have additional questions we didn’t answer, are curious to learn more about the the City if Calgary’s Housing Strategy, or want connect with our office and share your feedback, please email us at ward09@calgary.ca.