Calgary trails other major cities in housing affordability: city report

Calgary is far behind other major Canadian cities when it comes to affordable housing, according to a new report from the city.

According to the report, Calgary lags well behind other major centres in terms of co-operative housing supply,market rental supply and non-market rental supply.

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In some cases, the differences are significant.

"One of the things that Calgary can learn from looking at other cities is to find ways to increase market rental housing. The city of Montreal, for example, has 50 per cent for their housing as market rental," said Sarah Woodgate, the director of Calgary Housing and president of the Calgary Housing Company.

"We would need to double the market rental supply to become average."

The city would also have to double the number of non-market rental units to hit the national average.

High home ownership

On the plus side, Calgary has the second highest rate of home ownership 71 per cent just one per centbehind Mississauga, Ont., and well above the 59 per cent average.

It's households that make under $60,000 a year who struggle in Calgary, according to the report.

For those making over $60,000, only eight per cent are overspending on housing. For those under $60,000, about 60 per cent are spending too much.

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The report lays the blame for the lack of affordable options on the boom-bust economy that encourages construction in the boom years for boom-year budgets.

It also points to the nation-leading levels of income inequality, meaning those left out of high incomes are also left out on housing.

The third major factor is government incentives to encourage developers to build different types of housing.

Promised funds

Woodgate points to housing plans from both the city and the province as positive steps, as well as $13 billion in affordable housing funds promised by the federal government for the country as a whole.

"Calgary is well prepared in order to leverage those dollars to address the significant housing gaps for low- and moderate-income Calgarians," said Woodgate.

She says there are 2,000 new units of affordable housing in the works in the city.

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