Provincial policy will raise rents of rural adult learning centres by tens of thousands of dollars

Non-profit organizations that work out of Alberta government buildings will be hit with rent increases of tens of thousands of dollars when a new provincial policy becomes effective next year. 

The Non-government User Space Use Policy, which comes into effect April 1, 2022, will end Alberta's long-standing practice of allowing non-profit organizations to enter into no-cost leases allowing them to operate in government buildings. 

The new rents range from cost-recovery for non-profit groups that do government work and are sponsored by a specific government ministry, to full market rates for organizations that don't have direct backing from a provincial ministry. 

The change will be particularly hard for 13 rural Community Adult Learning Programs, which — at little or no cost — help people with literacy, numeracy, basic English, workplace skills and resume writing to help them become employed.

The programs exist in towns including Bashaw, Edson, Taber, Wetaskiwin, Rimbey and Ponoka.

The CALPs are sponsored by, and receive funding from, Alberta Advanced Education so qualify for rents intended to recover costs of heat, water and electricity. 

In March, executive directors of the 13 programs wrote a letter to Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda urging him to reconsider. They said the rental increase will be "debilitating" because there are few government funding sources in rural Alberta.