Why Calgary's mayor voted to change residential zoning

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Calgary sits at a time when our future hangs in the balance of our decisions today. This week, I made an important decision for a prosperous and affordable future for all Calgarians.

To maintain Calgary's competitive edge, we must do everything we can to keep good people and their talent in our city. We cannot accomplish this task until we ensure that everyone can find a decent place to live.

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Having an affordable home is the foundation of prosperity. In recent years, getting this stable base has become a bigger and bigger problem. More people have to choose between paying for food or rent. Often, young people worry that their dreams of having a family and a home like the one they grew up in will not come true.

This is not a prosperous Calgary for all. The housing crisis is truly a problem of our time.

That's why city council put together the Housing and Affordability Task Force, which produced Home is Here Calgary's housing strategy. It outlines 98 actions our municipal government can take to address the housing crisis in a fiscally responsible manner. One of these 98 actions was to implement a citywide change to relax zoning restrictions that would allow for a greater diversity of housing.

Thanks to this change, many townhouses can be built – the type of house that costs 30 percent less than a single detached house. During a housing and affordability crisis, a lower price point can make a real difference for Calgarians.

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The change is so important that the council held the largest public hearing in the city's history. We had 736 Calgarians before council over 12 days, with another 6,101 written submissions. The public hearing was preceded by open houses and town halls. Before the public hearing, I also sat with representatives of dozens of public associations.

Previously, council heard directly from more than 160 Calgarians last September as part of the housing strategy decision.

For at least two years, the media has been awash with reports of Calgarians facing unprecedented jumps in rent and mortgage costs as an inflationary crisis unfolds across the country.

The stories shared by Calgarians provide a vivid picture of the city's housing challenges. These range from retirees forced to move out of neighborhoods where they've built their lives, to students sleeping in their cars because they don't have shelter. It's also about homeowners who worry about what could happen to their biggest investment in the face of change.

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Everything I heard over the years was part of my decision to vote for rezoning.

That's why we've changed our processes to give Calgarians a say in what gets built in their communities. We listened and raised their voices as residents expressed their concerns about not having a say in the future of their neighborhoods.

It's also important to remember that zoning isn't the only thing we've done to solve housing problems.

To date, we have dedicated 17 city-owned parcels of land for affordable housing, with the goal of creating 680 new subsidized homes for low-income Calgarians.

We have created incentive programs for people interested in building second suites and we encourage builders who add affordable housing to their construction projects.

We continue to increase housing through transit hubs by funding the development of these areas for market and non-market housing.

Just as there is no single path to prosperity, there is no single solution to increasing housing affordability.

This week's decision was only part of the strategy. We are committed to doing everything we can to ensure prosperity for all of us.

Jyoti Gondek is the Mayor of Calgary.

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