On Tuesday, Minister of Housing Sean Fraser, alongside Mayor of Calgary Jyoti Gondek and Calgary Skyview MP George Chahal, announced that the City of Calgary's Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) application had been approved and that the City will receive $228M.

The $228M will go towards seven initiatives fast tracking over 6,800 units of housing over the next three years, and hopefully spur the construction of more than 35,000 homes across the next decade. Those initiatives include zoning bylaw amendments to allow for more missing middle housing, streamlining approvals, incentivizing secondary suites, building inclusive and equitable affordable housing programs, and more.

"Over the last two years the city of Calgary has seen a substantial increase in its housing growth and HAF’s investment is expecting to keep the trend alive," said the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in the announcement.

"Our federal government has been working with municipalities across the country to incentivize the construction of more housing," added Chahal. "The City of Calgary has been a supportive partner in this important work, and our collaboration will continue to make housing more affordable in our city."

The announcement comes almost exactly two months after Fraser sent a letter to Mayor Gondek saying the City's Housing Accelerator Fund application would not be approved unless the City ended exclusionary zoning.

Exclusionary zoning, among many other things, was already on the City's agenda as Council was preparing to consider its "Home Is Here" housing strategy, which was ultimately approved later that month after three days of public hearings.

The approved strategy consists of over 60 actions, categorized into six overarching goals: making it easier to build housing, making more land available, meeting the needs of equity-deserving populations, facilitating greater collaboration, increasing investment in housing providers, and improving housing security.

The City continues to implement many of those actions, with several to be considered this month and others expected to be up for public hearings in the coming months.

"Just weeks ago, Calgary Council approved a housing strategy which outlines a clear path to address the urgent and growing housing needs in our city," said Mayor Gondek on Tuesday. "This significant investment demonstrates our federal partners are eager to enable the City to partner with non-market and private developers to create new homes quickly."

The Housing Accelerator Fund was first announced in 2021 but did not officially launch until earlier this year. Cities that have received funding so far include London, Vaughan, Hamilton, Brampton, and Halifax. In Alberta, Edmonton's application has also been approved, but a formal announcement has yet to be made.

Elsewhere in Western Canada, Kelowna received approval in late October, while applications made by municipalities in the Metro Vancouver region have yet to be approved as a result of the regional district pushing through increases to development cost charges, resulting in what is currently an impasse.

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