A House or a Home?
Submitted by Melanie Swailes on behalf of the Development and Transportation Committee
If I ask you to picture a “house” in your mind, what do you see? Probably the exterior of a house, maybe a peaked roof or large windows, maybe some flowers and trees? Now, what if I ask you to think of the word “home” instead? Chances are you are focused more on the interior, the furniture, the photos on the wall, or the decorating and the things that we do to make our “house” into a “home”.
Everyone needs a home, but that home does not always need to be a “house”. It might be a condo, a townhouse, even a trailer or a room in a friend’s house. Regardless of the form, housing has become expensive and not everyone has access to good, safe, or affordable housing. If you use the Bow River pathways, it’s likely that you have seen tents or shelters in the trees or along the riverbanks. It’s not just in downtown areas. Last year there was a shelter in the trees in Brenner Park near Dr. EW Coffin School.
What has changed? At the risk of over-simplifying complex issues, it does seem that changes can be broadly lumped into two categories: social/economic issues and development/building changes.
Certainly, COVID accelerated some trends that were already present. Some users of facilities like the Drop-In Centre didn’t feel safe and some organizations had to cut back on the services they were able to provide. Many people lost their jobs as businesses were shut down. The LRT lost much of its ridership and some stations were used as ad hoc temporary shelters or gathering spaces, plus there was an increased presence of drugs like opioids and Fentanyl. Many individuals found themselves in precarious positions or homeless.
But housing itself also changed. When Brentwood was developed 60 years ago, nobody had ever heard of Airbnb and “flipping” houses wasn’t jargon that most people knew. In a May Bugle article, Lee Hunt interviewed residents who have lived in Brentwood since the beginning of the community, some for over 60 years! If you are a long-time resident, when you bought your house, you were likely looking primarily for a long-term “home” and not so concerned with the appreciation and valuation of your home as an asset.
Other factors also enter into the picture: work from home (the ability to live anywhere and commute only rarely), short-term rentals and Airbnb, foreign ownership, and even a proliferation of renovation shows on TV that promote quick renovations as a means of rapidly increasing the value of a home. On top of that, rapidly increasing housing prices in places like Vancouver and Toronto provided windfall gains for property owners who could “flip” their properties and make a lot of money for simply holding a property for a short period of time.
In most of those cases, property is viewed primarily as an investment rather than a “home”. When a new Canadian law with regards to foreign buyers of residential properties took effect January 1, the statement on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s website was that “The desirability of Canadian homes is attracting profiteers, wealthy corporations, and foreign investors. This is leading to a real problem of underused and vacant housing, rampant speculation, and skyrocketing prices. Homes are for people, not investors.”
“Homes are for people, not investors.” Certainly, we need investment in houses, but should it be privately or publicly funded? What role should the City play in creating or supporting more affordable housing options, for example, converting existing office towers into housing? There are no easy or correct answers, but there are many different opinions as to how to begin to tackle the problems.
From a Planning perspective, it might seem that the easiest way to have more options for housing, especially more affordable options, is simply to build a lot more. If there is a glut of housing, prices should come down, right? Except it doesn’t seem to be working that way. Many of the newer townhouses and multi-unit buildings are replacing existing old homes: the old ones were cheaper to rent, while the new homes sell or rent for much higher amounts. Newer doesn’t necessarily mean affordable. Plus, with increasing numbers of new residents coming to Calgary, the number of new builds cannot outpace the growth.
Herein lies the challenge: According to Statistics Canada, Calgary’s population increased by 42,225 between 2021 and 2022. If you were in charge of Planning and Development, where and how would you house that number of people? Part two of this article will continue next month with a look at some facts and figures.
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