Since 1988, when Calgary hosted the Winter Olympics, it has tripled in size, and that growth isn’t slowing down.
Calgary is expected to hit 2 million people by 2029, the fastest population growth rate in Canada. People looking for a better life have long migrated to the city, attracted by the opportunity it represents.
Today, Calgary is one of the best places to live in the world thanks to the hard work of past Calgarians who built a great city. But will future Calgarians enjoy the same economic opportunity and quality of life?
Calgary’s growth comes from the ambition and entrepreneurship of its population working in a free and open market where Calgarians can build great companies, develop new ideas, and are not held back by government interference or burdensome taxation.
The biggest challenge facing Calgary today is its high cost of housing, with a house-to-price ratio of 5.56, well above historical levels. High rents lead to homelessness and social disorder for people who can’t afford them, and reduced opportunity for young people who cannot afford to leave home. High house prices delay family formation, crowd out business investment, and reduce entrepreneurship, which in turn reduces economic growth and worker productivity.
This is caused by restrictive zoning regulations, which add time and cost to projects, or simply ban economically viable projects from being built at all.
Many of Calgary’s inner neighbourhoods have lost population since the 1980s, while the suburbs have become more dense. This is economically inefficient. Longer commutes, underused public infrastructure, and aging communities without housing options are all a direct consequence of restrictive zoning in these communities that block densification. People vote with their wallets and consistently buy duplexes and rowhouses in these inner-city neighbourhoods when they are allowed to.
Bureaucracy slows down growth in the housing stock
Onerous and complex zoning rules in the Calgary Land Use Bylaw mean that Calgarians need the approval of a city bureaucrat to make simple changes to their own properties and will often need to hire an expensive consultant to navigate the process.
Often, Calgarians cannot buy the houses they want, in the neighbourhoods they want to live in, because the zoning code forbids building them, or the regulatory red tape raises the house price beyond reach.
Overseeing parcel-by-parcel zoning amendments takes up 40 per cent of council’s time when they should be ensuring that basic city services like the water mains are properly maintained and critical city projects like the Green Line are delivered on time and on budget.
Calgary needs to build 24,000 units of housing per year. City council’s role is to manage the city, not micromanage it.
After 10 years of flat growth and failing systems across Canada, it’s clear that Calgary’s culture of ambition and entrepreneurship is a winning formula for building a wealthy, successful, and excellent city. Calgary should be doubling down on an ambitious, pro-growth approach by retaining upzoning and reducing regulatory red tape blocking new housing.
The rest of Canada is not building the homes they need. It’s time for Calgary to show the way forward.
Calgary should be where every ambitious young Canadian wants to move to build their company, advance their career, or start a family. Ambition built this city. We believe in a Calgary that builds homes for everyone, has world-class water infrastructure, opportunities for each generation, and has growing incomes and living standards each year as we succeed together.
Let’s keep Calgary building.
– Nicolas Krause is an Engineer in Training and Denys Robinson is a Policy Professional and Product Manager
