Calgary city councillors will be asked to consider a plan for administration to identify off-street locations where citizens struggling to find homes can live in their RVs.

A Notice of Motion from Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot will come for technical review to the Jan. 21 Executive Committee meeting, asking for city administration to find the locations and provide a scoping report, and the resources required to make it happen.

The report would include potential rezoning of areas, public engagement, capital upgrades, safety and security and cost to create sites “suitable to accommodate people living in recreational vehicles.”

It also suggests that city admin identify a third-party organization to manage the potential sites.

Coun. Chabot said the motion stems from an ongoing challenge in his ward along Moraine Road NE, going back more than a decade. Calgarians unable to find long-term affordable housing had taken up residence in their RVs along the route.

The City of Calgary had been in contact with RV-dwellers in the area, removing them from the street and relocating them to a temporary spot elsewhere. Chabot said that business owners in the area were frustrated that motorhomes – sometimes more than eight – were in the area.

LWC toured the area Thursday and found that no motorhomes were along Moraine Road.

“These folks that are there obviously have an issue because they can’t afford to live in a rental unit. They can’t afford to park their RV in a regular RV lot because, again, they can’t afford it,” Chabot said.

“They may not qualify to go into some of our affordable housing because, as the one gentleman stated, I’m a single male, and so I’m low on the list as far as priority is concerned.”

Chabot said living at that location wasn’t ideal and he wanted to find other options.

Admissions process, outside operator needed, Chabot said

The Notice of Motion references that the City of Calgary has spent both time and resources managing this RV situation, “…in addition to enforcement and legal challenges associated with people living in recreational vehicles in several locations.”

LWC asked the City of Calgary to provide a summary of actions taken to manage this issue. However, no information was provided.

Chabot said he expects if this is to work, it will require an admissions process and agencies better suited than the City of Calgary to operate it. He also said it should have basic services like water, electricity and access to washroom facilities.

“This is not intended to be a permanent solution,” he said.

“This is a temporary solution until we can hopefully find a better solution for them, ie: more permanent-type housing, affordable-type housing.”

Chabot said that city administration had a site picked out prior, but it hadn’t gone through the appropriate public engagement. He said that would be an important element in finding the right location.

“That should be first and foremost on any issue like this. You want to engage the community that’s adjacent to any site that you want to select, so that they understand exactly what the intent is and how it’s going to be managed and operated, and what kind of safety and security matters and how they will be addressed,” he said.

Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner said she would support a safe, secure RV-living option for citizens, provided it was a temporary solution for them, and had access to wraparound supports.

“I’m actually not opposed to it. I think that it sort of speaks to the challenges that we’re facing and sort of speaks to the need to respond,” she said.

Penner said she believed several city-owned lots could be explored as potential sites.

“We’re addressing people who, for one reason or another, this is their living circumstance,” she said.

“My guess is, like there’s a difference between choosing to live in and have the camper van life and sort of being like relegated to living in your RV because you don’t have any other choice of housing, but ideally, you would be in housing.”

Chabot’s motion calls for a report in Q2 2025.