Sale of seven City-owned development sites to affordable housing providers in Calgary

Today, The City of Calgary announced plans to sell seven City-owned sites to non-profit organizations with strong track records as affordable housing providers in Calgary.

The sites are located in the communities of Saddleridge, Hillhurst, Albert Park/Radisson Heights, Forest Lawn and the Downtown Commercial Core. This is the most significant sale of City-owned land to affordable housing providers in The City’s history, and strongly supports the Corporate Affordable Housing Strategy – Foundations for Home.

“Calgary faces a critical need for affordable housing, and The City of Calgary is proud of our role to help get that built,” says Mayor Naheed Nenshi. “The release of this land is a historic step forward in creating more safe, quality housing for more of our fellow citizens.”

The sites were chosen due to their close proximity to amenities such as transit and grocery stores, key criteria for affordable housing development. The City is selling the sites at below market value, helping non-profit providers scale up and improve operational self-sufficiency.

“A pressing issue facing Calgary’s affordable housing sector is an inadequate supply of housing”, says Sarah Woodgate, Director of Calgary Housing and President of Calgary Housing Company. “We’ve received feedback from non-profit providers about the lack of suitable land to build new units and we are excited to offer these development opportunities so The City’s land can be leveraged to build more homes”.

Another exciting addition - successful applicants will be eligible to receive funding from The City’s Housing Incentive Program (HIP) and a dedicated addition from the Canada Mortgage & Housing Corporation’s (CMHC) SEED Funding program, marking a meaningful collaboration between the two levels of government.

The HIP program provides grant funding and rebates on City permitting fees for affordable housing projects. CMHC Seed Funding provides financial assistance to support activities that will help facilitate the creation of new affordable housing units and assist existing housing projects to remain viable and affordable.

“CMHC is thrilled to be joining this unique partnership with The City of Calgary that will help facilitate and accelerate the development of affordable housing”, says Cody Krause, Affordable Housing Consultant at CMHC. “Our collaboration on this initiative is an example of federal and local governments cooperating to create cost-effective and client-focused solutions to housing needs.”

The sale will be open to more than sixty non-profit affordable housing providers in Calgary working to address the affordable housing deficit in the city. Applicants will be required to meet a specific set of criteria including demonstrated experience in multi-residential development and operating, managing or selling non-market housing.

Applications will be accepted by The City’s Real Estate & Development Services business unit until October 6, 2017 at 4 p.m. Once the selection process is complete, successful applicants will be required to go through the development permit and/or land use amendment approval process, including community engagement, prior to starting construction on the site.

This initiative is expected to yield up to 350 new affordable homes helping provide safe and stable housing to more Calgarians.

For more information, visit:

calgary.ca/realestate

calgary.ca/affordablehousing

cmhc-schl.gc.ca/affordablehousing

List of City-owned development sites:

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