City making housing a priority
Mayor Clark says costs and supply are causing an issue that needs attention
Easing affordability and addressing the housing supply will be a City Hall priority, Mayor Linnsie Clark said this week in her State of the City address, potentially with local tax incentives and zoning changes to offset.
Coming off a historically poor year for local residential building, Clark says Medicine Hat is suffering alongside other communities in Canada where interest rates, construction inflation and population growth are being blamed for a lack of activity and, therefore, higher housing costs and rental increases.
“It’s certainly one of the biggest issues facing us in 2024,” Clark told reporters following the speech where she outlined provincial and federal work on the issue.
“We will receive proposals from the planning department as well as land-use bylaw amendments to further increase housing supply in our area. Council will give them careful consideration.”
The local residential construction sector hit an historic low in 2023.
Only 29 single-family homes were started last year, down from 38 in 2022 and 51 the year before.
Duplex and apartment projects were also fewer, and no permits were submitted or approved for row housing, tri- and fourplexes — often described as the “missing middle” between rental units and detached homes.
The response, Clark says, could result in adding new types of hybrid land zoning that allows for more higher intensity development or redevelopment.
Such ‘upzoning’ where small apartments or row housing would be more easily permitted in low-density districts, or large complexes in medium-density zones, is called for by “Strong Towns” consultants current working with the city over the next year.
Jackie Taylor, president of BILD Medicine Hat representing home-builders, says more housing and diverse housing types are needed in Medicine Hat.
“The reality is that we need those homes to be part of the community,” she told the News on Thursday, adding that her group has been in discussions with city officials during the process, which is expected to result in proposals this spring.
“The building community wants for the city to work with us,” she said. “We don’t always have to make massive changes in advance of having an idea.
“We want the city to be open to someone who asks, ‘Can we try this on this land?’”
Currently, housing is only allowed in three specific residential zones (low-, medium-, and high-density), along with mixed-use zones like the downtown, where housing is co-mingled or built in higher floors.
Seeking investment in established neighbourhoods has been the over-arching philosophy in local land-use planning since a 2018 land-use amendment.
It promoted development in existing communities or along existing road and utility networks to avoid adding expensive new city projects to connect new communities.
Getting those “brownfield” projects approved can be difficult, however, when neighbours object to higher density projects citing parking, property values or other concerns.
This month, residents of Riverside arrived at the municipal planning commission meeting to oppose the continued use of a 13-unit hotel as a longer-term rental property.
Property developers have long argued that city-led subdivisions are hampered by smaller lots to reach density targets while home buyers want to build larger homes.
Administrators presenting in videos to accompany Clark’s speech called densification a way to provide units and grow the assessment base.
“That lowers the tax (burden) on all of us,” said city assets manager Pat Bohan in a taped presentation describing the tax difference comparing a vacant or occupied single-family lot to an apartment building as about $50,000.