April 1st, 2013
The Mayor of Calgary Wants To Help Renters Which Includes More Landlords and More Secondary Suites
Vacancy rates in Calgary at 1.3%, which is ten year low for the city. This hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Mayor of Calgary who says he and city council have their eyes on the challenge of having a strong rental market and also having affordable housing.
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In an interview with CBC news, he admitted the government has “limited powers” because of market forces. However, there are things that can be done to deal with the shortage of affordable housing in the city.
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According to the mayor, there are threes levels to make change. These are:
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1. Make sure there is rental housing on the market
2. Assist non-profit organizations provide subsidized affordable housing
3. Create government housing for people who are very difficult to house
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Creating More Landlords and More Rentals in the Market-place
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Nenshi made it clear his priority is point number one.
The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Calgary is $1113/month.Calgary is seeing higher rents, lower vacancies and new buyers.
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The way to increase the supply of rental housing is to encourage people to rent their basements out by reforming
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The plan to increase the number of registered secondary suites — apartments found in existing homes, typically in basements — has met with considerable resistance since the Mayor first proposed the idea. But this time, he says he thinks he can get it done.
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Hasn’t He Been Saying This For Years?
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The mayor used a football analogy. He said that in previous attempts to change the policies on secondary suites were like trying to score a ‘touchdown’. This time he will use a different strategy of going for first down yards “to move the ball down the field.”
Nenshi wants to introduce a new bylaw to oversee the creation of more secondary suites in the couple of meetings of City Council. He believes there are at least 50,000 units of ‘illegal’ secondary housing in the city now. He wants to create paths to legalize them. He also wants to lobby the federal government to encourage new rental housing using tax credits.
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Nenshi admits his plan to have more legal secondary suites in Calgary has some strong opponents. However, he believes he can get it done.
To listen to the mayor click here.
We are happy to have a mayor who understands that creating conditions for more investment in rentals is a great policy tool. Unlike provinces such as Ontario that seems to want to force landlords to do what the government wants (and ends up failing miserably), Nenshi is taking a smart and realistic approach.
To discuss this and other issues facing Alberta landlords go to our Landlord Forum and network with thousands of other landlords across the province and across Canada.
Tags: calgary landlords, Mayor Nenshi
