Proposed charter changes could "cripple" housing plans: Calgary mayor

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The Alberta government recently proposed changes to city charters for Calgary and Edmonton in an attempt to make housing more affordable and remove barriers to affordable housing initiatives.

The charters are regulations that give those cities the ability to modify or replace specific provisions in the Municipal Governance Act (MGA) and some other provincial acts and regulations.

The act regulates how municipalities are funded and how, as local governments, they should govern and plan for growth.

“Housing affordability is a top priority for Albertans and the provincial government is leaving no stone unturned as we strive to meet this challenge,” Ric McIver, minister of municipal affairs, said in a statement.

The changes involve three areas of provisions within the charters, including off-site levies, which enable municipalities to charge developers a portion of the costs associated with servicing a new area.

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Inclusionary housing, something that allows the cities to require a developer to provide money or other resources to the municipality to be used for affordable housing, will be repealed to help limit the potential for cost increases to new housing, the Province said.

The building code bylaw authority, which allows the cities to make bylaws regarding energy consumption and heat retention, is also being removed.

The Province said the policy’s removal will ensure there is one uniform building code standard across Alberta.

“These changes to city charters are just one example of how Alberta’s government is ensuring housing remains affordable and attainable,” Jason Nixon, Alberta’s minister of seniors, community and social services, said in a statement

“Inclusionary housing ultimately drives up development costs and higher home prices and that’s why we are removing it from the charters.”

The updates are intended to reduce the cost that could be imposed on developers as they bring additional housing to the market.

But some of those changes could have the opposite effect, according to Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

“This is a funding and financing tool that we have as a city, the levy… it enables the development industry to pay their fair share of the infrastructure,” she told Daily Hive Urbanized in an interview.

“The type of changes that are being proposed to city charter for right now are absolutely going to cripple the city’s ability to deliver on the housing solutions that we have put into place.”

Off-site levies fund the infrastructure that is used every day in new communities. In Calgary, an off-site levy is a development charge paid by developers.

According to the City of Calgary, that money pays for infrastructure that supports growth and development, for example, water and wastewater pipes, roads, interchanges, pathways, and emergency response stations.

“If they allow for an appeal to the off-site levy by law, like if that happens, the first time the off-site levy bylaw is struck down, everything grinds to a halt, because there’s no more funding and financing tool to pay for infrastructure,” Gondek said, adding that projects that are underway will stop.

“The only way to complete them will be off the backs of taxpayers in Calgary and that is not something we are interested in doing.”

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