The City of Calgary isn’t likely to pursue a separate space for RV-dwelling citizens, given the purported limited number of users and the high cost per door.

A scoping report promised earlier this year on the feasibility of providing such a space was delivered to the Community Development Committee on Sept. 11. The recommendation not to create a separate space was approved by committee members.

The admin report said there are roughly 20 regular occupied RVs on Calgary streets, and typically they are bound by a three-day (72 hour) parking maximum.

According to the City, they have a five-step “compassion-informed” enforcement that involves action only if a complaint is received. From there, they go through a process of issuing three notices over 45 days, in coordination with Calgary social services agencies.

Ultimately, the city landed on it being cost-prohibitive, saying that it’s up to four times more expensive ($200k+operating costs) than the expected cost-per-door under Calgary’s Housing Strategy (up to $75,000).

They also said that fewer than half of the survey respondents (RV dwellers) indicated they would be willing to relocate to a new space.

Multiple city sites were analyzed, but barriers such as alignment with planning policy, environmental site assessments, permit approvals, development timelines and investment cost for land upgrades and site servicing were cited.

Ward 7 Coun. Terry Wong asked if the City of Calgary was going to great lengths to put those barriers in the way of finding a spot.

“Everything you described in doing that seems like we’re throwing every…application protocol at it to get this to that number,” Wong said.

“Whereas most of these RV people would just want a place to park, if not on the street, just a vacant lot somewhere.”

Colleen Sinclair with the City of Calgary said that the City does have to take on a duty of care when it creates a space for people to live.

“Simply saying that we’re going to invite a bunch of people onto an undeveloped piece of land and sort of let them fend for themselves is not how a court would later on look at our responsibilities,” she said.

‘There’s hundreds of us’: RV Dweller

Victor LaRock, a long-time Calgary RV dweller, scoffed at the notion that the city based its data on talking with 20 people, saying that half wouldn’t relocate.

“There’s hundreds of us. They’re making it seem like this is not an issue. There are literally hundreds of us,” he said.

“They keep breaking us apart, so we’re not grouped together in large groups.”

LaRock also took issue with the idea of it costing up to $300,000 per door to provide a spot for RV owners. (That cost is capital plus future operating expense, according to the City.)

“How can it cost 200-to-$300,000 when the dwelling is already there – it’s our vehicles. All they have to do is put in outlets for us to plug in. There’s nothing else to do,” he told LWC.

“They already have the land. They even already have closed down motor parks, trailer parks that already have outlets and drainage systems and the whole nine yards. They have them sitting there empty.”

Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot was also puzzled by the substantial per-door cost put forward by city admin. He understands, however, that the City tends to be risk-averse and needs “all the bells and whistles in place” for a location like this.

“I thought the $200,000 per door was excessive. And I’m not sure how they came up with that number, exactly, but it just seemed like a pretty big number.

He’d like to see third-party providers come forward with a plan for such a location.

In the City’s jurisdictional scan most Canadian cities folded this issue into their homeless strategy, while most US cities had dedicated lots for people living in RVs—many in partnership with other providers.

When asked if he thought Canadian cities were behind in dealing with this issue, the City of Calgary’s Housing Officer, Reid Hendry, said it was a different approach.

“I don’t think it’s a matter of them being ahead or us being behind, but rather, we have a different strategic approach that I think has done a great job of continuing to keep housing as affordable as possible for Calgarians in the market dynamics we’ve seen across North America that have just raised home prices year over year over year,” he said.

The recommendations will now be forwarded to Calgary city council for a full debate and potential action.