Calgary city council approves strategy to address housing affordability
Global News
Calgary's housing strategy was approved late Saturday after three days of public feedback and debate, with updated actions and one contentious item remaining in the plan.
Calgary city councillors have approved the city’s strategy to address housing affordability after three straight days of debate and public feedback.
Entitled “Home is Here,” the strategy aims to address a worsening housing crisis through a series of nearly 80 recommendations and actions for the city to take over the short, medium and long term.
“We have approved a housing strategy that is fulsome, it addresses both market and non-market need, and it’s work that desperately needs to start right away,” Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek said following council’s decision.
The strategy’s approval comes after a marathon public hearing that saw more than 160 Calgarians, non-profits and developers share their insights and lived experiences in Calgary’s competitive market to find housing.
With the cost of renting or owning a home rising exponentially in Calgary, the city’s strategy aims to increase the supply of housing, support affordable housing, help the city’s housing subsidiaries, ensure diverse types of housing to meet the needs of equity-deserving populations, and address the affordable housing needs of Calgary’s Indigenous population.
Proponents of the strategy said the plan’s approval is only the beginning of the process, but sets the course for a series of actions to help address housing affordability.
“One of the biggest challenges of council is that we will fight to deny people the opportunity to start trying to solve the problem,” Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said. “This is the permission to solve the problem.”
According to the city, implementation will begin with recommendations that don’t require further budget or council approval.
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