E

Planning/Zoning/regulatory side
Ratios of Affordable or the Housing/program side? 6
3. What tools are available to our
Housing housing branch to deal with
these questions through their
policy?
Recommendation:
4. What would the process be to
That the March 10, 2009, Planning and
move forward on mechanisms
Development Department report
and policies to deal with this
2009PCP013 be received for
issue both on the
information.
Planning/Zoning/regulatory side
Report Summary and the Housing/program side?
This report provides information on Report
low-cost housing. 1. What planning tools are available
Previous Council/Committee Action to address equitable distribution
and disbursement of low cost
• At the April 8, 2009, Executive housing, i.e., maximum
Committee meeting, the March 10, percentages, spatial disbursement
2009, Planning and Development or any other possible tools?
Department report 2009PDP013 was
made debatable and was postponed
• The term “low-cost housing” is a
to the April 22, 2009, Executive
generic term that can include a
Committee meeting.
broad range of market and non-
• At the December 17, 2008, market housing units occupied by
Councillors B. Henderson and households earning less than
J. Batty made the following inquiry: median income. The low-cost
A number of neighbourhoods in the housing that generates the greatest
City of Edmonton are under stress public attention is generally occupied
due to a high ratio of low cost by persons receiving social
housing, both market and non- assistance, income support, or
market. earning less than $25,000 annually.
1. What planning tools are available • Typically this type of housing
to address equitable distribution consists of government subsidized
and disbursement of low-cost housing, including shelters,
housing, i.e., maximum supportive and non-supportive
percentages, spatial accommodation, older private-sector
disbursement or any other apartments, rooming houses, and
possible tools? other rental units.
2. What mechanisms are being
• High proportions of low-cost, private
used by other municipalities
sector housing stock generally exists
across Canada and North
in neighbourhoods which are more
America to deal with this
than 60 years old that were originally
question, i.e., Chicago, Toronto,
developed with modest housing
Calgary and others, either in the
stock, accommodating lower to

ROUTING – Executive Committee | DELEGATION – S. Mackie/T. Loat

WRITTEN BY – L. Piroddi | March 10, 2009 – Planning and Development Department 2009PCP013
Page 1 of 4
Ratios of Affordable Housing
moderate income households.
These neighbourhoods were
developed to provide housing for
workers employed in nearby
industrial areas, and the land use
impacts from these industrial
activities influenced the price of
housing.
• Examples would include,
neighbourhoods built adjacent to
Edmonton’s former meat packing
plants and stockyards, or industrial
areas in the northeast. As the
housing stock aged and deteriorated,
zoning was changed to allow
conversion of houses to dwellings
with suites and rooming houses, with
some opportunities for apartment
redevelopment. Rezoning was
intended to meet evolving housing
needs and stimulate redevelopment
in these areas.
• In order to effectively serve the
needs of the lower income
population drawn to these
neighbourhoods, both government
and non-profit agencies developed
various forms of subsidized housing,
services, and support facilities. The
availability of less expensive land,
and the opportunity to replace
properties in poor condition, also
influenced investment decisions.
• Land value significantly affects the
housing development pattern and
the type of re-development in
established neighbourhoods. The
development of low-cost housing is
most often situated where land costs
are lowest.
• The number and nature of planning
or regulatory tools that can influence
the distribution of low-cost housing in
a free-market economy are limited.
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The Zoning Bylaw regulates the
“use” of land rather then the “user”,
and the regulations are based on
tangible, measurable land-use
impacts related to such factors as
density, built form, and traffic.
• Council determines the content of
Statutory Plans, policies, and the
Zoning Bylaw; instruments that can
influence the spatial allocation of
different land uses and built forms
throughout the city.
• Council has recently approved text
amendments to the Zoning Bylaw
that increase the opportunity for
Secondary Suites, Garage Suites,
and Garden Suites. This change
may help increase opportunities for
low-cost housing across a broader
range of communities.
• In 1972, the City had a policy
requiring developers to provide land
for social housing, to accommodate
five per cent of the projected
population of a neighbourhood, in
the form of medium density housing.
The policy was challenged in the
Courts and ultimately struck down in
1979. During recent consultations
regarding the establishment of a City
inclusionary affordable housing
policy, representatives of the
development industry voiced their
strong opposition to the re-
establishment of such a land
dedication requirement.
2. What mechanisms are being used
by other municipalities across
Canada and North America to deal
with this question, i.e., Chicago,
Toronto, Calgary and others,
either in the
Planning/Zoning/regulatory side
or the Housing/program side?
Ratios of Affordable Housing
• Some municipalities have adopted
policies and processes to specifically
address concerns about the
equitable distribution of housing,
including low-cost housing.
• The City of Toronto’s Official Plan,
(2007), includes a detailed policy
designed to distribute the full range
of affordable housing across the city,
and within neighbourhoods. The “full
range” of housing includes rental and
ownership, shelters to mid-range
market, and existing housing stock.
• The City of Portland adopted a
Location Policy addressing
geographic concentrations of poverty
in 1994. The policy restricts city-
controlled funding for affordable
housing in “impact areas”. The
City’s Community Residential Siting
Program provides a centralized point
of information to deal with questions,
and mediate concerns around the
location of residential social services.
• The City of Denver passed a Large
Residential Care Use Ordinance in
1993, to address concerns of both
supportive housing advocates and
residents in neighbourhoods in which
the proposed facilities are to be
located. The law specifies size
limits, minimum separation
requirements among facilities, and
creates a consultation mechanism
between the developer and the
neighbourhood, mediated by city
staff.
• The Alberta Municipal Government
Act does not provide the same
opportunities or authority as other
jurisdictions.
Page 3 of 4
3. What tools are available to our
housing branch to deal with these
questions through their policy?
• Under the Cornerstones Plan,
Administration has allocated a
limited amount of capital grant
funding to facilitate the development
of both supportive and non-
supportive housing that falls within
the definition of low-cost housing
cited in this report. The current
criteria for awarding this grant
funding does not include
consideration of the location of the
proposed project relative to any
existing area where there is a high
ratio of low-cost housing.
• Administration could apply such a
criteria in adjudicating applications
for grant funding; however, this
would require reaching agreement
on what constitutes an acceptable
ratio of low-cost housing and
subsequently, developing
neighbourhood profiles to identify
existing neighbourhoods, meeting or
exceeding the threshold.
• A Place to Call Home - Edmonton's
Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness
is centred on the “Housing First”
philosophy. The “Housing First”
philosophy is that people need to be
given the choice of being housed
first, and then provided with the wrap
around services needed for them to
maintain stable occupancy.
Typically such programs make use
of private-market rental units
dispersed throughout the community.
Some housing first programs have a
policy of capping the percentage of
their clients that can be housed in
any one building.
Ratios of Affordable Housing

4. What would the process be to by establishing strong, socially

move forward on mechanisms and balanced communities.
policies to deal with this issue
both on the Planning/Zoning/ Policy
regulatory side and the Housing/ This report supports Plan Edmonton
program side? direction to:
1.1.1 Provide for choices regarding the
• While not dealing directly with low-
types of developments in which
cost housing, the draft Municipal
people want to live and do
Development Plan (MDP) does
business.
include a section on affordable
1.7.2 Provide for a range of housing
housing. The draft text identifies a
types and densities in each
number of policy objectives that can
residential neighbourhood.
affect affordable housing
3.9.2 Endorse a mix of housing types
development and distribution. It
for a wide range of household
includes a focus on developing
types and incomes in all areas of
affordable housing at premium
the City that are reflective of the
transit locations and using
City’s population profile.
government-owned surplus land to
3.9.3 Encourage new development and
accommodate affordable housing
infill redevelopment to incorporate
units. These provisions do not
affordable housing that is visually
specifically refer to low-cost housing;
indistinguishable from market
however, Council could direct that
housing.
these policies be amended in the
3.9.4 Work in partnership with other
MDP to influence the distribution of
orders of government, private
low-cost housing. The effectiveness
owners and landlords and the
of dealing with urban land
community to maintain, upgrade,
distribution issues not related to use
and expand the new and existing
is limited because of the nature of
affordable rental housing supply
land use policy and zoning
in the City.
regulations.
• As noted in section 3 of this report, Focus Area
Council could direct Administration to The information in this report relates to
include criteria in its approval the Diverse Communities and Inclusive
process for Cornerstones funding, Communities focus area to provide
that would preclude locating new affordable housing.
low-cost housing in areas where
there is already a high concentration
of such housing.
• Council can use these approaches to
offset the tendency for low-cost
housing to be concentrated in certain
areas of the City. While this could
result in increased cost for housing
projects, it could fulfill citizens’ needs

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