Calgary’s downtown office-to-residential conversion program has thus far created a pipeline of housing projects that, according to the City of Calgary, will deliver 2,628 new downtown residential units.

The goal is to remove six million square feet of vacant office space by 2031.

According to the City’s website dedicated to the downtown revitalization, they’ve estimated $739 million in partner investment, and calculate that for every $1 they invest, they leverage $4 in private investment.

The downtown conversion program had an initial City of Calgary investment of $147 million, later topped up with additional cash, including money from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF).

An additional $40 million is being sought for 2026, according to Calgary’s proposed budget.

Whether that additional cash is approved may come down to the faces on the new Calgary city council.

According to the LWC 2025 candidate survey, which was completed by 64 of a possible 87 candidates for both mayor and councillor, just over half (34) support the ongoing use of city tax dollars for the program.  Twenty-five are against, and five are solid maybes.

The divide is largely along the lines of using city cash to subsidize for-profit corporations’ investments, and those who believe the investment is paying off in added downtown property value (tax revenue) and creating more homes.

The maybes want to ensure that an appropriate cost-benefit is demonstrated.

Conversions along party lines?

“Using property taxes for office residential conversions can make sense as an investment in a healthier downtown and stronger housing market, but it comes with a trade off: Fairness concerns, risks of failed projects and competing demands on limited tax revenue,” wrote Ward 1 candidate Cathy Jacobs from the A Better Calgary Party.

From a municipal party perspective, Communities First members were somewhat split on the idea, with mayoral candidate Sonya Sharp, Ward 13 candidate Dan McLean, Ward 12 candidate Rob Ward and Ward 4 candidate Jeremy Wong expressing doubts.

“We need to let private industry, and the market, decide where housing should go and how much of it,” read Sharp’s response.

“As mayor, property tax dollars will go to essential services that Calgarians depend on. We need to focus on safety in our downtown core before we expect Calgarians to want to live there. I’m very reluctant to continue with taxpayer money without (the) province stepping up to support.”

Ward 7 Communities First candidate Terry Wong supports the use of tax dollars for office conversions. Most of the other Ward 7 (downtown) candidates also agree, minus A Better Calgary Party’s Anthony Ascue and independent candidate Greg Amoruso.

“No. It’s better to tear down and rebuild the entire building,” wrote Ascue.

“We have more options on the construction, especially with adding parking, which downtown needs more of.”

In contrast, Calgary Party candidates were mostly in favour. So in favour were Ward 2 candidate Candy Lam and mayoral candidate Brian Thiessen, they had verbatim responses to the survey question.

“Office-to-residential conversions make smart use of tax dollars by turning empty towers into homes, bringing people and business back downtown and rebalancing Calgary’s tax base,” they both wrote.

“It’s a practical way to add housing, boost vibrancy, and reduce the property tax burden on homeowners.”

Others, like Ward 12 Calgary Party candidate Sarah Ferguson, offered a bit more nuance to their response.

“I support the use of property tax dollars for downtown office-to-residential conversions to find efficiencies within the City to get out of the way of the folks that are already motivated to do this work,” she wrote.

“I also support tax dollars going to this if it’s for city partners that are offering below-market housing options.”

Ward 14 independent candidate Devin Elkin said there are other mechanisms to spur the conversions.

“Not with public tax dollars. There are plenty of other incentives at our disposal to encourage this type of conversion in the core,” he wrote.

Stay tuned as LWC continues to break out the specific candidate responses by ward, and for the mayor’s race.