Halfway into the second year of implementation, the Home is Here Housing Strategy is already seeing positive impacts to tackle the housing affordability challenges facing Calgarians, with approximately 88 percent of the approved actions on track to be initiated by the end of 2025. While this is great progress, Calgary’s growth continues to outpace homes created, and continued effort is required to close the housing supply gap.
The Strategy focuses on actions to increase the diversity and supply of market and non-market housing in all areas to accommodate record growth. In the 2025 report to the Community Development Committee on June 12, accomplishments for 2024 and the actions underway for 2025 were highlighted, including:
- To increase affordable housing supply, we’ve sold 17 sites of City land below market value to allow the opportunity for more affordable housing providers to create 835 new homes. In May 2025, $30.7M was awarded to the first round of projects through the Housing Capital Initiative, expected to create 480 affordable homes.
- Council approved a new property tax exemption bylaw for non-profit non-market housing providers to further support affordable housing providers to provide the lowest possible rents.
- We continue to enable City housing subsidiaries to improve service delivery by working with Calgary Housing, Attainable Homes Calgary, the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation and Silvera for Seniors on critical projects.
- We are working to ensure our programming is addressing the needs of equity deserving groups, such as the non-market Whitehorn Family Housing project which will provide 52 families with children who are at risk of or are experiencing homelessness with housing and supports that meet their needs.
- A “For Indigenous, By Indigenous” Housing Program, Maa’too’maa’taapii Aoko’iyii’piaya, is being created to meet the distinct housing needs of Indigenous Calgarians. We are very honored to work with the Housing Solutions Elders Advisory Committee on this program.
But that’s not all:
Calgary saw remarkable growth in residential building permits, recording the highest housing starts per capita in Canada with 20,165 units in 2024. This trend continued in the first quarter of 2025, with Calgary leading all Canadian municipalities in housing starts and contributing 55 percent of Alberta’s total housing starts.
“This success is no accident. We have laid a strong foundation to be Canada’s housing leader through a decade of planning process improvements and collaboration with industry.” said Reid Hendry, Chief Housing Officer. “Housing is a complex issue that requires constant collaboration with our market and non-market industry partners. We are constantly working to leverage funding from other levels of government to increase housing supply, choice, and affordability for all Calgarians.”
Looking forward, the Chief Housing Officer will continue to implement the actions in the Home is Here Strategy with urgency, focusing on investment and advocacy in the areas where we are falling short, while driving towards our goal of increasing supply, choice, and affordability.
For more information on Calgary’s Housing Strategy, implementation, and the housing accessibility task force, visit: calgary.ca/HousingStrategy.
– 30 –
Other accomplishments of note:
- In 2024, there were nearly 900 non-market units approved through the development permits stage, an increase of nearly 850% over 2023, suggesting a stronger pipeline of affordable homes on the way.
- In 2024, nearly 5,000 secondary suites were registered up from less than 3,000 in 2023.
- Five office building conversions expected to open this year creating about 680 new homes downtown in 2025.
- An uptick in permits for townhomes, rowhouses, and similar housing forms will expand the range of housing choices for Calgarians. In established areas specifically, these forms made up 43% of all low-density development permit applications received, compared to 28% in 2023. These forms have resulted in 966 new homes which make up 70% of all low-density homes applied for within the established area.
