Calgary could offer residents upward of $10K as secondary suite incentive (2024)

Calgary city councillors gave preliminary approval to a bid to encourage the creation of additional suites in Calgarians’ homes on Wednesday, as they received their first major progress update on the city’s housing strategy.

Last September, council approved the city’s new policy, which consists of 98 separate actions — along with the recently approved blanket rezoning — aimed at defusing the affordable housing crisis. City administration says it has made strides in implementing the new policy since work began in January, and roughly 80 per cent of the initiatives will be underway by the end of the year.

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One of those initiatives is a new program designed to motivate Calgary homeowners to create basem*nt suites at their homes. The program will see the city reimburse residents up to $10,000 in safety-related costs when they register a secondary suite, with an additional $5,000 for those that meet certain accessibility standards and up to $1,250 for energy efficiency improvements.

The program is expected to net up to 3,000 new suites in its first year, which the city says is a 50 per cent increase in registrations over 2023 numbers. Council set aside $4 million for the program in its 2024 budget, and it will receive additional funds through the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund.

“To maximize the impact of the available funds, homeowners will qualify for funds based on the safety items that need to be addressed to develop their space into a safe registered suite,” said Joshua Howes, the city’s secondary suites program manager, during a community development committee meeting Wednesday. “Not every situation will require improvements to all items, which will free up funds to support other applications.”

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Howes said the intention of the funding is not to cover the full cost of renovations but to aid with costs and ensure new suites adhere to safety requirements.

Backyard suites not included in program

Some councillors questioned why only attached suites would be included in the program, asking whether it could be expanded to include backyard and laneway housing, but staff said the costs for a backyard suite would be significantly higher and likely require a separate program.

Ultimately the committee voted 5-2 to give the program the green light, sending it to a council meeting as an urgent matter next week. Councillors Dan McLean and Andre Chabot voted in opposition, noting a lack of information around the federal side of the funding.

“I don’t see how this will necessarily contribute significantly more towards the suite registry program to incentivize more legal suites,” said Chabot. “I do see this as just an additional cash cow for the first ones into the program.”

An amendment adding backyard suites to the program could come up when the program is considered by the whole of council at next Tuesday’s meeting.

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“I fail to understand why we wouldn’t just make this available to all secondary units,” said Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra.

“I absolutely support this program, but I think it should be broader, and I don’t understand why it’s not.”

If approved at next week’s meeting, the program could roll out as soon as June 3.

Housing stresses continue

Calgary’s housing and rental markets have continued to face difficulty as the city has begun to implement its housing strategy, said city staff.

Staff told councillors that since the strategy was approved eight months ago, another 35,000 people have moved to the city, rent for the average two-bedroom apartment is up $300 (12 per cent), housing costs have risen by more than $50,000 (11 per cent), and the vacancy rate has sunk as low as 1.1 per cent.

“These added housing market pressures will make it even harder for Calgarians to afford their housing, especially so for those in need of affordable housing options,” said Zahra Somani, the city’s housing policy and strategy leader.

She said roughly one in five Calgary households cannot afford where they currently live — a number she admitted the city probably underestimated.

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Somani pointed to several successes of the strategy in its early stages, including city lands that have been committed to creating affordable housing, things like the blanket rezoning that will make it easier to build more housing, newly secured funding and new supports for the non-profit housing sector.

The committee voted 7-1 to forward the report to a future council meeting. McLean was the lone member in opposition.

“If we’re in a crisis and we want to make things more affordable, why did we raise taxes three times in a year on people that want to own homes?” he said. “That’s not showing that it’s a crisis … A lot of things I agree with; a lot of things I don’t, so sadly, I can’t support this.”

Coun. Courtney Walcott thanked staff for their work in the early stages of implementing the strategy. He noted that some of the outcomes set are still years out, but the “pipeline has been set” for future success.

“For example, if we want that 3,000 units per year of non-market housing, you can already start to see in some of the work that you’ve already done that we’ve got 10 per cent of those targets hit in several different years already,” he said.

The committee also gave preliminary approval to establish a new committee that will advise council on the implementation of the housing strategy, forwarding the decision to a future council meeting.

mrodriguez@postmedia.com

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