Affordable Housing

Ensuring Alberta is a Place We Can Afford to Call Home

What could be more important than having a safe and comfortable home? In a province without a plan, housing prices have skyrocketed beyond the reach of many families, and Albertans are suffering.

Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Homelessness and Affordable Housing

• Implement the Alberta Liberal Affordable Housing Strategy, including a temporary 10 per cent cap on rent increases, a limit of one rent increase per year, and a moratorium on condominium conversions, except where developers agree to replace any lost rental units with new rental properties.
• Through the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing, co-ordinate and assist in implementing municipal plans to end homelessness by creating the office of Director of Housing and Human Services.
• Introduce ‘Permanent Supportive Housing,’ which provides the chronically homeless with stable housing options combined with support and clinical services.
• Involve other ministries—Education, Health, Justice, Solicitor General, Children’s Services and Municipal Affairs and Housing—in a joint effort to prevent atrisk children from becoming homeless.
• Allow for the creation of more secondary suites in homes, and offer grants of up to $5,000 to homeowners to create new suites.
• Amend the Municipal Government Act to allow cities and towns the power to include minimum percentages of affordable housing in any new
  developments or redevelopments.
• Swap or donate land to local land trusts to devote in perpetuity to affordable housing; implement tax breaks to encourage private landowners to contribute their property to affordable housing projects.
• Encourage local governments to freeze, reduce or eliminate property taxes on affordable rental units by providing corresponding grants to municipalities to make up for the lost revenue.
• Encourage municipalities to eliminate development fee levies, fast-track building permits and waive permit fees.
• Match funding with the federal government’s Affordable Housing Trust and the Off-Reserve Aboriginal Housing Trust.
• Help up to 5,000 families achieve home ownership by extending financial assistance to moderate income earners who wish to buy their own homes, partnering with the private sector and community housing agencies to accomplish this goal.
• Connect allowances and supplements to the renter, not the unit.
• Provide low- or no-interest loans to qualifying low-income earners to cover the cost of the security deposit and one-month’s rent.
• Expand the Residential Tenancy Dispute Resolution Service, a program which is designed to reduce costs, wait times and the burden on the courts to resolve landlord-tenant disputes.

Click here to download the Alberta Liberal Action Plan for Homelessness and Affordable Housing in .pdf format.