That with respect to Report CD2023-0749, the following be adopted:
That Council:
1. Approve Home is Here: The City of Calgary’s Housing Strategy 2024-2030 (Attachment 2), as amended below, and rescind Foundations for Home – Calgary’s Corporate Affordable Housing Strategy (2016-2025):
a. Amend the Objective 1A section as follows:
i. Deleting Objective 1A wherever it appears and inserting the words “Make more City-owned real property assets (i.e., land, buildings, and strata) available for housing (market, non-market, subsidized, and housing co-op) in all communities.” in its place
ii. Deleting Action 1.A.1 from page 18 in its entirety and inserting the words “1.A.1. Dispose of City-owned real property assets as soon as possible within Transit-Oriented Development sites suitable for affordable market and non-market housing” in its place.
b. Amending Section 1.A.1 on page 18 by inserting the following bullet after the words “HATF”:
i. Dedicate two City-owned sites (at no cost) to develop an emergency housing program for families with children who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness. In tandem with identifying the City-owned sites, work with modular or pre-fabricated housing providers, social service agencies, and government partners to explore the rapid establishment of temporary, transitional housing for these families. Administration will identify and support opportunities to expedite the approvals process and further investigate how the homelessness sector can work together to identify appropriate partners, budgets, clients supports and other important considerations required to see this project proceed and remain in place until the family homelessness crisis in Calgary is resolved.
c. Deleting Action 1.A.2 on Page 18 in its entirety and inserting the following in its place:
1.A.2. Allocate an initial $20M per year to the Housing Land Fund to acquire land, real estate, or provide existing City land for the creation of non-market and mixed-market housing and develop a strategy to progressively realize the Housing Land Fund’s targeted $100M per year balance. This strategy should include, but is not limited to:
I. Advocacy for matching funds from the Provincial and Federal Government;
II. An exploration of municipal funding tools and sources; and
III. Collaboration and consultation with market and non-market housing providers.
d. Amending Action 1.A.3 from page 18 by deleting the words “(minimum target of 1,000 units)”
e. Deleting Action 1.A.6 from page 18 and inserting the following in its place:
1.A.6. Allocate $50M in funding, of which up to $25 million is to be prioritized for post-secondary residential uses, to the Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program as bridge funding until such time as additional funding is provided by the federal and provincial governments to make up the balance of the program requirements. Specifically, this funding requires:
I. Collaboration with post-secondary institution(s);
II. Collaboration with federal and/or provincial governments;
III. Delivery of non-market housing for qualifying post-secondary students; and
IV. Creation of methodology by the partner post-secondary institution to ensure that international students have access to 25% of the non-market units created in this initiative.
The balance of the $50 million in bridge funding not utilized by the post-secondary residential uses will be prioritized towards conversion incentives for post-secondary institutions, and residential conversion projects that include a meaningful amount of non-market housing for the general public as well as equity deserving and indigenous populations.
f. Deleting Action 1.C.1 on Page 21 in its entirety and inserting the following in its place:
Include policy in the Municipal Development Plan immediately that every community in Calgary should encourage a minimum of 15% of the total housing units to be non-market Affordable Housing (as defined by The City) to provide equal distribution across the city. This action does not mandate a minimum amount of non-market development. This is a signal to The City, public and Council that affordable housing is needed, wanted and acceptable throughout all communities.
g. Inserting the following bullet “III” after bullet “II” in Action 1.C.4 on page 21:
III. Eliminate parking requirements for backyard suites.
h. Amending Objective 1C section on Page 23 by inserting the following as Action 1.C.13:
1.C.13 Commit to infrastructure upgrades, services and amenities related to increased housing opportunities by:
I. Using existing tracking systems, and improving upon them as necessary, to identify which communities city-wide are receiving applications for land use change, development permits and building permits to facilitate more housing;
II. Using the data from the tracking systems to understand the additional funding needed for these communities to have appropriate infrastructure, services and amenities to accommodate housing and population growth;
III. Seeking opportunities to equitably share the costs and benefits of housing-enabling infrastructure (basic facilities, services, systems, and installations necessary or appropriate for the functioning of a housing community, including facilities, services, systems, and installations for water, sewage, power, communications, and transportation facilities such as roads, sidewalks, transit, and multi-modal transportation options), services and amenities amongst impacted groups, including the public, the private sector, and the Provincial and Federal governments; and
IV. Building upon Council approved investments in the amount of $259 million made through the Citywide Growth Strategy ($259 Million is based on ‘Supporting Growth and Change Through City Programs’ calculations which include: $120M for Mainstreets, $63M for Established Area Growth and Change programs, $16M for Transit Oriented Development, $20M for Local Area Planning, $40M for 5A investments.), leverage the standing item on budget at Executive Committee to provide projected investment amounts reflective of anticipated acceleration of housing development and population growth, facilitating the need to deliver infrastructure, services, and amenities in growing communities.
i. Inserting the following new Action 2.A.8 on page 26 under Action 2.A.7, as follows:
2.A.8. Investigate options for expanded business licensing for residential landlords, including education requirements and a landlord registry, to improve landlords’ awareness of their responsibilities and reduce rental accommodation fraud.
j. Deleting the Action 2.A.3 on page 25 in its entirety and inserting the following in its place:
2.A.3. Support tenants and government to address inadequate housing conditions by hosting a landlord-tenant forum to listen and understand to the challenges faced by landlords and tenants in Calgary’s rental market to develop and deliver a program that creates awareness of landlord and tenant rights through a similar to The City of Edmonton’s ‘Support for Tenants’ service.
2. Direct Administration to:
a. Immediately begin work on implementing the Housing Strategy’s actions that do not need further Council direction or budget approval.
b. Prepare recommendations that have a budget implication to be included as part of the 2023 November Adjustments to the 2023-2026 Service Plans and Budgets.
c. Continue work progressing actions which, as indicated, require further public engagement, council deliberation and approval, and/or public hearing, and bring those forward to Council as work is ready for consideration;
4. Direct Administration to report to Community Development Committee annually, for the time duration of the current strategy that includes:
a. Updates on any new process costs or significant process changes for applicants resulting from the Housing Strategy's implementation across the planning continuum;
b. Recommendations to:
i. mitigate any additional costs to applicants and ultimately to housing consumers;
ii. speed up approval processes as appropriate, in order to continue to support the construction of more housing;
c. Aggregated, third-party verified data points, sourced from both development industry and The City that demonstrate how savings are being passed onto consumers;
d. Relevant metrics on new housing starts and Planning & Development permit processing times, including City and Applicant times, alongside any related Measures of Success identified in the Housing Strategy;
5. Refer the report back on the Housing and Affordability Task Force Notice of Motion (EC2022-0638) item 1B regarding the Housing Security Commission to the 2023 October 31 Community Development Committee.
6. Direct that three Confidential Distributions received by the City Clerk’s Office up to the conclusion of the public submissions portion of the meeting be held confidential pursuant to Section 17 (Disclosure harmful to personal privacy) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act; and
7. Direct that Confidential Distribution 1 be held confidential pursuant to Sections 16 (Disclosure harmful to business interests of a third party), Section 21 (Disclosure harmful to intergovernmental relations), Section 24 (Advice from officials) and Section 25 (Disclosure harmful to economic and other interests of a public body) of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act until such time that all relevant agreements are executed or that The City agrees to disclose portions for communications purposes.