The City of Calgary will be making two city-owned sites available to non-profit organizations for future projects, but one councillor says the plan doesn’t address the immediacy of the housing crisis.
As part of its housing strategy, the city announced Thursday that it would be accepting expressions of interest from housing provider partners for two locations, one adjacent to the Whitehorn LRT station and another near the Fish Creek-Lacombe LRT station.
“When we assess any site for housing we look at its proximity to transit, grocery stores, schools, (and) other amenities that make great places to live,” explained Tim Ward, the city’s manager of housing solutions. “Ultimately we’re looking for residential style sites that could be good places for people to live.”
The north location will be situated in the 3500 block 34th Street Northeast, south of the Whitehorn Multi Service Building, while the south location is in the 14300 block of Sixth Street Southwest, west of the CTrain station parking lot and north of Shawnee Drive.
According to the city, lease agreements will be negotiated with the selected non-profits and support will be provided to assist with the delivery of housing.
While the city referred to the initiative as a move toward rapidly creating housing for families in need, Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp said the effort to deliver roofs over people’s heads isn’t moving fast enough as these housing projects will likely open in mid-2025.
“We are in a housing crisis. That’s no secret,” Sharp said. “And now we’re looking at 18 months. Does that do anything to address what we’re doing right now? What is the solution for someone in the next six months when it gets really cold here? Now we have to turn around and say what are some interim immediate measures we can do and help Calgarians that are looking for places to be warm and safe this winter.”
The deadline for submitting expressions of interest is Jan. 15, 2024.
With files from Global News’ Meghan Cobb