Calgary Could Need Over $500M a Year to Hit Affordable Housing Goals, City Briefing Warns

Calgary city council has been told that reaching its own affordable housing targets over the next four-year budget cycle could cost more than half a billion dollars annually a figure that has already sparked debate among councillors about municipal responsibility, taxpayer impact, and where the money should actually come from.

The estimate comes from a briefing note prepared for council after members learned last month that the city’s housing strategy, known as Home is Here, had fallen behind schedule and needed a more detailed rollout plan going forward.

City administration laid out three possible funding scenarios for councillors to weigh as they head into fall budget talks.

The most modest option, described internally as “keeping the lights on,” would cost the city about $93 million a year. It would maintain roughly current output 400 new non-market housing units, six newly acquired development sites, and housing for around 1,040 residents.

A middle-ground option, “gaining footing,” would nearly triple that spending to $214 million annually. Under this plan, the city would build 1,050 new non-market units, secure 15 development sites, and house about 2,730 people.

The most ambitious path, “building momentum,” carries a price tag of $526 million per year the amount needed to actually hit council’s previously approved goal of 3,000 new non-market units annually. This option would fund 30 new development sites and aim to house roughly 7,800 Calgarians.

Reid Hendry, the city’s chief housing officer, reminded council that the 3,000-unit annual goal isn’t a new number pulled out of thin air it was set when council approved the Home is Here strategy in the first place.

“The non-market sector doesn’t create itself,” Hendry said. “It requires investment not only locally but from other orders of government.”

That reliance on outside funding from the province, Ottawa, and private and non-profit partners is part of what makes the true cost to Calgary taxpayers difficult to pin down, according to Ward 10 Councillor Andre Chabot.

“The question is: are we investing too much, not enough, or maybe we should push other orders of government into investing more to provide a much needed service,” Chabot said.

Not everyone on council is convinced the city should be shouldering this cost at all. Ward 13 Councillor Dan McLean has raised concerns about whether affordable housing funding even falls under municipal jurisdiction.

Ward 2 Councillor Jennifer Wyness took a different view, arguing that provincial and federal governments have effectively been offloading housing costs onto cities like Calgary.

“We really do need to look at the cash flows of how you actually deliver affordable housing in the third largest city in Canada with some of the greatest demands, while also being perceived of being the most affordable market in Canada for you to own a property,” she said, predicting “interesting conversations” ahead when budget talks begin.

For context, the city has spent about $75 million a year on non-market housing over the past four years, producing an average of 1,100 units annually, according to a report presented to council in May.

But the briefing note warns that per-unit costs are climbing, partly due to land prices and the fact that earlier projects were often further along in development before receiving city funding meaning future dollars may simply not stretch as far.

“Providing consistent and predictable municipal funding remains crucial to addressing the housing needs of Calgarians,” the note states, adding that steady city investment also helps unlock matching dollars from other levels of government, which tend to invest only where there’s a clear municipal commitment already in place.

Chris Bell, CEO of the Norfolk Housing Association, told Global News that hitting the city’s target would simply bring Calgary in line with the national average for non-market housing per capita not put it ahead of the curve.

“Ultimately, if cities don’t put in this level of investment, the province and the feds won’t either,” Bell said. “Then we won’t get any more non-profit housing, and then we’ll stay stuck in this affordability crisis.”

He argued the payoff would show up elsewhere in reduced homelessness, lower health care and justice system costs, and stronger overall economic productivity.

Council’s full budget deliberations, where these options will be debated in detail, are set to begin in November.