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Despite continuing to lead the country on home construction, the City of Calgary is looking to refine its housing strategy due to slowing progress on implementing the plan.
That strategy, titled Home is Here, was approved by the previous city council in 2023 and included 98 action items to improve affordability and boost housing supply across the city by 2030.
According to an update to city councillors Wednesday, 71 per cent of the action items included in the strategy are either completed or underway, but that’s down from 88 per cent from the last update in June 2025.
The update included a number of reasons for the decline in progress, including a number of initiatives planned for last year not starting due to resourcing constraints, and operational delays.
However, the repeal of citywide rezoning is the “main driver” behind the slowed progress, said the city’s chief housing officer, Reid Hendry.
“Rezoning for housing, that obviously council reversed and repealed a couple weeks ago, represented several actions in the Home is Here strategy,” Hendry said. “That’s the delta between what’s been completed this time last year versus right now.”
Despite that, Hendry said the city has made progress on a number of key initiatives in the strategy that has led to successes.
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The report showed Calgary led the nation with more than 23,000 housing starts last year, with occupancy granted to nearly 28,000 homes.
It also showed Calgary’s vacancy rate rose to 5.1 per cent last year from 4.8 per cent in 2024, due in part to growth in purpose built rentals.
More than 1,800 non-market homes were also approved through development permits last year, up 105 per cent from 2024.
However, the figures remain below the city’s annual target of 3,000 new non-market units.
According to Hendry, pressures continue to persist including Calgary’s population growth, as well as home prices and rents outpacing income growth.
City administration is now recommending a “refresh” to the strategy to “sustain momentum” and to better respond to the current housing landscape in the city.
“The one criticism I would have is that 98 actions is a lot,” Ward 8 Coun. Nathaniel Schmidt told reporters. “If we pare that down to what we see as the most important, I think we could see more success.”
Ward 7 Coun. Myke Atkinson said moving ahead with refining the housing strategy could better reflect city council’s priorities after the repeal of citywide rezoning.
“While I wasn’t necessarily a part of that choice, I think we as a council have decided we’re charting a different course,” Atkinson told committee. “I think it is up to us to get behind what we believe is our course.”
If city council approves the move, city administration is expected to present an updated implementation plan and scope for the strategy later this summer.
“We’re really talking about 20 (actions) that haven’t been completed and retooling those to five or 10 that are very important to this council, and will meet the needs of Calgarians today rather than the Calgarians of September 2023 when the plan was approved,” Hendry said.
A new funding scope would also need to be considered to meet the city’s non-market housing targets if council proceeds with a refined list of initiatives.
$75 million has been invested annually over the last four years for non-market housing, which has enabled an average of 1,100 non-market units per year.
Three options would be considered including the status quo, entitled “keeping the lights on,” while increased spending align with long-term system needs and growth in the city’s 10-year capital plan, called “building momentum.”
The third option, which administration is recommending, is called “gaining footing” and would allow the city to “scale up to keep pace with growth, address affordability pressures, and best leverage funding from other orders of government.”
No dollar figures were included for each of the options in the report.
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