After harsh community backlash, Calgary city council voted to accept an affordable housing plan on Wednesday afternoon.
The plan included recommendations from the housing and affordability task force and focused on three outcomes: increasing and diversifying the housing supply in Calgary, strengthening the ties within the housing sector, and improving living conditions for people in rental housing.
It’s a turnaround from Tuesday, when council voted 7-8 to end the housing and affordability task force’s work without moving forward with any of the recommendations.
City administration said in a Tuesday presentation that Calgary is losing its affordable advantage. The data on housing affordability showed people earning less than $87,000 per year have affordable access to only 40 per cent of the city’s market housing stock.
According to the latest Statistics Canada data, the median individual income in 2020 was $44,250 and three-quarters of individual Calgarians earn less than $80,000 per year.
Mateusz Salmassi, vice-president external of the University of Calgary’s student union, said he was disappointed when he heard council had rejected the affordable housing plan.
According to Salmassi, many University of Calgary students are housing insecure, which means they are living in unsafe living situations or have trouble paying rent. A lot of students choose to sleep in their cars because housing is so unaffordable, he said.
“City council blew it … It’s easy for eight city councillors to just say no, but they provided no alternative plan,” Salmassi told Global News.
“City council had the chance to vote to create 3,000 new affordable housing units, invest in secondary suites … And they decided to abdicate their responsibility to vulnerable Calgarians and young Calgarians, including students.”
Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner urged Calgary city council to address the housing crisis in the city.
“Every leader at every level of government must make housing a priority, and every citizen must understand that we cannot address broader social problems without addressing housing. This crisis means that we need to build housing of every sort, everywhere,” Garner said in an emailed statement.
Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal expressed his disappointment in a social media post on Wednesday afternoon.
“It’s especially disappointing that eight councillors who supported the generous arena deal voted against these proposals,” the statement read.
“The issue of affordable housing is a nationwide concern, and the federal government is willing to collaborate with municipalities with our $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund. However, we should not reward municipalities that aren’t willing to come to the table.”
Some advocates welcomed council’s decision to reconsider the affordable housing plan. Vibrant Communities Calgary told Global News it is pleased about the outcome.
“We are not nearing an affordable housing crisis, we are already in one. Most recent data shows that 81,240 households are in need of affordable housing in Calgary,” said Lizzie Rajchel, communications coordinator for Vibrant Communities Calgary.
“We are pleased that council made the decision this afternoon to receive housing task force recommendations and actions and incorporate the changes into the Affordable Housing Strategy, and we encourage the city to continue to rise to the challenge of our urgent housing crisis.”
But others feel like the reconsideration motion is too little, too late. Many councillors voiced concerns about one recommendation.
Jennifer Wyness, Pootmans and Andre Chabot expressed concerns over one action item: “making the base residential district Residential-Grade Oriented (R-CG) with guidance for single, semi-detached, row and townhouses into a single land use district.”
“(The affordable housing plan is) about five years too late. I feel like they need to earn our trust back,” said Calgarian Heather Strachey.
“The things that were said, not just them denying it, but the things that they said … It’s an insult to three-fourths (of Calgarians).
“They don’t want us in their neighbourhoods … I follow the law. I don’t party. I don’t drink. I don’t go out. And you’re saying I’m undesirable to be in your neighbourhood.”
— with files from Adam Toy, Global News