Calgary hopes new affordable housing plan will net big bucks from other governments

Calgary city council hopesa new long-term affordable housing plan will help it leverage more than $200 million from the federal and provincial governments.

On Tuesday, a committee approved an affordable housing capital plan.

The city would have to put in $157 million over the next eight years in order to get the cash from the other governments.

• Calgary sells land to non-profits for new affordable housing projects
• Calgary's first city-owned affordable housing project in 5 years opens in Crescent Heights

The money includes upgrading existing units, building new ones, and placing new developments at several Green Line stations.

The president of the city-owned Calgary Housing Company, Sarah Woodgate, says having a long-term plan will help convince the feds and the province that Calgary is ready to start building new units.

"This is very exciting for Calgary to have a capital plan," she said."It helps us also identify where we can provide affordable housing in other city developments, such as with libraries or fire halls and we can build these complete communities with housing a component."

Ready to go

Mayor Naheed Nenshi says the planmakes a lot of sense.

If the city can figure out its priorities for new affordable housing units, then when the federal and provincial governments select projects for funding, the city can say it's ready to go.

"The cheques haven't really started coming yet and there's big debates between how much of it has to go to lifecycle maintenance to make sure every current unit is a decent safe unit, versus how much has to go to building new units," he said.

"And this roadmap we got today really helps us to make those decisions. So,long story short, the province and the feds have committed. Having the plan in place allows us to advocate to get the cash flowing."

• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Calgary sees uptick in coyote calls, city asks public to be wild smart
• MORE CALGARY NEWS |Council's new Olympics committee up and running