Home is Here: The City of Calgary's Housing Strategy - Rezoning for Housing
Calgary is in a housing crisis. We need more homes. The citywide rezoning proposed in Home is Here: The City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy will help.
How will rezoning help?
This change will help increase the supply of housing to better meet demand by reducing the costs and timelines for permit approvals. This means more housing is able to be built faster. It also allows for greater housing variety, options, and price points to suit more Calgarians needs.
If you’re renting or buying, rezoning increases the number and types of homes available in all communities, making homes more affordable. If you own property, you’ll have more options to meet your future needs.
Calgary needs a plan in place to enable more market homes.
Currently, single detached homes are the overwhelmingly predominant form of housing in Calgary. This makes home-buying hard as these forms typically come with a higher cost relative to other forms of housing within the same or a similar community.
Offering a variety of housing forms within a community will create a diversity of price-points within that community, helping ensure community populations stabilize and diversify, which ensures more Calgarians can find a home in the community they love.
Restricting supply means that housing prices will continue to grow and further segregates housing as a commodity rather than a basic human right.
Calgary housing affordability is a major concern to Calgarians. That concern will continue to grow as Calgary grows.
Home is Here: They City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy names specific actions The City can take to begin to address the housing crisis.
The Strategy proposed citywide rezoning as one of many actions The City can take to provide more housing options in more communities across Calgary. Providing more housing options throughout Calgary is an equitable approach that will improve the affordability and sustainability of our communities by increasing supply, reducing competition for homes, and reducing process barriers.
Alberta and Calgary’s population growth continues to accelerate.
In the 12 months preceding October 1, 2023, the province’s population expanded by 194,000 people.
Alberta has the highest growth rate out of all the provinces.
Canada’s growth rate was 1.07% for 2023 while Alberta’s was 4.3% for the same time period.
Citywide rezoning will provide Calgarians with more opportunities to find housing they need, and can afford, in a community they want to live in.
Citywide rezoning will reduce barriers to growing sustainably, and in alignment to our Municipal Development Plan, which advocates for growth in established communities. This will help achieve The City’s goal of balanced growth between new communities and the established area.
More variety of homes across the city will result in greater affordability of housing for all by increasing supply.
Rezoning will reduce approval timelines for new homes currently around 10-15 months down to 4-6 months because a land use change will not be needed.
Development Permits will still be required – nothing about this process changes. Development Permit considerations such as parking, landscaping, waste and recycling, etc. will still be dealt with at the application stage, where constituents will be able to provide feedback and share potential concerns.
Other cities that have taken similar approaches are seeing positive impacts.
Exclusionary zoning artificially drives up home prices – which is proven by Auckland's recent zoning changes. Within the first couple of years after Auckland’s rezoning (to a similar district as R-CG), that city saw a surge in housing being built, with double the amounts of homes being built compared to other cities in New Zealand. This further caused rents to stabilize, reducing them significantly compared to other cities.
Minneapolis has also built more housing than other midwestern US cities since changing their zoning (which was similar to what is proposed here). 5 years after their zoning changes, Minneapolis is seeing rents fall relative to inflation, with rents being almost 20% lower than in other major midwestern cities.
Proposed Zoning Changes
Administration will propose that parcels that are currently zoned for low-density residential be redesignated to either R-CG or R-G, depending on their location and current zoning.
1. Rezoning to R-CG: Current low-density parcels (parcels zoned R-C1L(s), R-C1(s), R-C1N, and R-C2 parcels) in the Developed Area will be proposed to change to R-CG.
2. Rezoning to R-G: Current low-density parcels (parcels zoned R-1(s), R-1N, and R-2 parcels) in Developing Areas (i.e. new communities) will be proposed to change to R-G.
3. Rezoning to H-GO: Administration will propose changing parcels to H-GO that have been identified as being appropriate in the three approved local area plans. The three local area plans affected are:
North Hill Communities
Westbrook Communities
Heritage Communities
How to Provide Your Input on Rezoning Recommendations:
Online input
The City wants to hear from you on citywide rezoning. Provide your input online, attend one of the virtual or in-person information sessions, or participate in the Public Hearing of Council on April 22, 2024. From January 15 to February 23, 2024, Calgarians can provide feedback to be captured in a ‘what we heard’ summary report.
In advance of the public hearing on April 22, 2024, The City is hosting a variety of online and in-person information sessions. If you have questions or are curious to learn more about rezoning, these sessions are for you.
Public Online Information Webinars
Feb 6 - 11:30-1 pm
Feb 7 - 7-8:30 pm
Pre-registration is required for these virtual session. Visit Calgary.ca/rezoningforhousing for information on how to sign up
In-Person Information Session
Jan 30 - 5:00 to 8:00 PM, Calgary Chinese CulturalCentre (197 1 Street SW)
Feb 1 - 5:30 to 8:30 PM, Dalhousie Community Association (5432 Dalhart Rd NW)
Feb 3 - 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Bowness Community Association (7904 43 Ave NW)
Feb 6 - 5:00 to 8:00 PM, Best Western Premier Calgary Plaza Hotel (1316 33 St NE)
Feb 7 - 5:00 to 8:00 PM, McGivney Hall, St. Mary's University (14550 Bannister Rd SE)
Feb 10 - 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM, Grace Lutheran Church (3610 Sarcee Rd SW)
Visit Calgary.ca/rezoningforhousing for information on in person events.
Speak at the Public Hearing of Council on April 22, 2024
There are three ways you can participate and share your feedback at the public hearing:
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 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.