Calgary's housing affordability crisis took a troubling turn this week as city council voted to repeal its citywide rezoning policy—and advocates say the city has no solid plan to fill the void.
A coalition of housing organizations, including More Neighbours Calgary, Good Neighbour, Calgary Transit Riders, and the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good, rallied outside city hall Monday to demand that council develop a replacement strategy. The group warns that scrapping the policy without a backup plan will only make Calgary's housing shortage worse.
"There are people working full time who cannot find a home," said Willem Klumpenhouwer, co-founder of More Neighbours Calgary. "Repeal without replacement doesn't pause that crisis, it makes it worse."
Last week, council voted 12-3 to repeal the citywide rezoning policy after eight days of intense public hearings featuring more than 400 speakers. The decision will redesignate over 306,000 residential properties back to low-density zoning, effectively reversing gains made under the "Home is Here" housing strategy.
What Was Lost
The citywide rezoning policy, which took effect in August 2024, fundamentally changed how Calgary's housing market could develop. The rule allowed homeowners and developers to build duplexes, rowhomes, and townhouses on single residential properties without requiring public hearings—opening the door to greater housing supply and diversity.
The repeal eliminates that flexibility, throwing those 306,774 properties back into restrictive low-density zoning that requires lengthy approval processes for any densification.
Advocates Demand Action on Affordability
Reverend Kersi Bird of the Calgary Alliance for Common Good framed the issue beyond zoning politics: "The issues at hand are not just about what communities look like, or how much parking is available. It's about everybody having a place—about security, and dignity, and seeing a future in this city."
The coalition is particularly frustrated with Mayor Jeromy Farkas, accusing him of abandoning a campaign promise to replace the rezoning with a new densification strategy. Klumpenhouwer called the months since the election "six months of silence."
"We need a timeline, we need a compromise, and we need it now," he told reporters.
Mayor's Response: No Blanket Rezoning
Farkas pushed back against the advocates' timeline, saying council is pursuing housing solutions beyond zoning alone. He pointed to the city's investment in a chief housing office, partnerships with non-profit providers, and efforts to make land available for subsidized housing.
"I have zero interest with replacing blanket rezoning with a new blanket rezoning," Farkas said. "I want to work legitimately with the community to be able to get this right, take the input that Calgarians are providing us, build the public will, and then deliver the housing Calgarians need."
The standoff leaves Calgary's housing market in limbo. With rental rates and home prices among Canada's highest relative to local incomes, and hundreds of workers unable to afford homes in the city where they work, the stakes are high for whatever plan eventually emerges from city hall.
This article was originally reported by Global News.