A significant portion of federal housing funding earmarked for the City of Calgary has been put on pause, pending council’s upcoming discussion on citywide rezoning, Global News has learned.
In a memo to councillors and the mayor sent on Friday, obtained by Global News, city administration said the $129 million in Housing Accelerator Fund money designated for Calgary is “paused pending further clarity on the status of citywide rezoning.”
City administration said in the memo it was informed of the funding pause during a meeting on Friday morning with representatives from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).
According to the memo, if the issue isn’t “clarified” by the end of March, the city’s third installment from the fund “would be relinquished.”
Calgary was awarded $251.3 million, including top-ups, from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund following the adoption of citywide rezoning in 2024, with $129.5 million still owed to the city by CMHC.
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That funding has gone towards several initiatives, including incentivizing the construction of secondary suites, the city’s downtown office conversion program and an affordable housing project.
“I feel like I was lied to and misled,” said Ward 13 Coun. Dan McLean, citing repeated assurances that federal housing funding wasn’t tied to council’s May 2024 decision on citywide rezoning.
The move changed Calgary’s land-use bylaw to make residential grade-oriented infill (R-CG) the default residential zoning district across the city, which allows for a variety of housing types, including single-detached, semi-detached, duplexes and rowhouses on a single lot.
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McLean is one of the co-signers of a motion going to council in December to scrap citywide rezoning and revert the city’s land-use bylaw to what it was prior to the previous city council approving the initiative, excluding properties that had development permits approved prior to the motion or any currently under review in the permit process.
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“Calgarians were pretty clear they wanted to repeal blanket rezoning and this should not affect the funding,” McLean told Global News. “From my lens, we’ve achieved all of our targets, we’ve shattered them.”
Earlier this year, Calgary announced it had surpassed the targets set out in the Housing Accelerator Fund a year ahead of schedule.
The targets set out in 2023 included 41,858 new housing units by October 2026. According to the city, 44,276 new units were built in less than two years.
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When asked about the funding pause, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he has advocated to federal officials that the funding should only focus on housing construction.
“The funding from the federal government should be based on whether the housing gets built, especially if it’s housing at an affordable price point, agnostic of how we choose to get there,” Farkas told reporters.
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Housing advocates said they are not surprised by the response from CMHC, and that they hope city council will think twice about repealing citywide rezoning.
“If you’re the federal government, what’s the point in giving us money if we’re not going to take the steps that we need to keep our own housing system stable,” said Kathryn Davies with More Neighbours Calgary.
In the memo, city administration said it is working to review implications, risk and mitigation related to the federal funding, including a previous recommendation that contingency funding wasn’t required.
“Our goal is to preserve funding and continue to address the need for more housing for Calgarians, the memo said.
In a statement late Tuesday, CMHC did not address the city’s memo and directed Global News to a statement the organization sent on Nov. 14.
“We are aware of Calgary’s proposal and are reviewing the details,” the statement said. “We expect municipalities to fulfill their agreements. If a partner’s agreed upon commitments aren’t met or are reversed, this puts their HAF funding at risk.”
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The organization also included Calgary’s Housing Accelerator Fund agreement and action plan, which includes an initiative to “streamline approvals to increase housing supply” by “updating zoning requirements to promote infill housing development in single-dwelling neighbourhoods.”
Meanwhile, the City of Calgary tempered the language used in the memo in its statement to Global News, saying CMHC confirmed to administration that future installments of the funding “are expected to be held” pending further clarity around citywide rezoning.
“Our priority remains addressing the housing needs of Calgarians, and we remain committed to working with our federal government partners through any change in direction from our City Council,” the statement said.
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