Calgary’s Infrastructure and Planning Committee heard a report from city administration Wednesday that funding from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) could be withdrawn or reduced if city council repeals the blanket upzoning bylaw at its meeting on March 23.
“A full repeal may result in the city being deemed to be non-compliant with its HAF Contribution Agreement with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC),” said the report. “This would put a portion or all of the HAF funding at risk.”
“Other federal funding programs with similar housing conditions, where applications have been submitted but no agreements signed, could potentially be impacted (e.g., $251 million over ten years for the Canada Public Transit Fund (CPTF) Baseline stream could be impacted).”
CMHC threw some gasoline on the fire, when it released a statement that went public on Wednesday.
“The Housing Accelerator Fund aims to support the increase of housing supply and improve housing affordability across the country,” read the statement. “Implementing four units as-of-right zoning reduces red tape and promotes a diverse housing supply for Canadians by allowing housing developments of up to four units to not require an official plan and rezoning applications in order to proceed.”
“This would allow for more missing-middle housing types, as the development can take the form of duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes as well as secondary and accessory dwelling units. Missing-middle housing types expand the diversity of affordable, community-oriented options.”
“In order to remain compliant with the agreement, any updated zoning must not reintroduce exclusionary (single family only) zoning, allow for at least four units on a lot across the city without additional approvals, and must not reintroduce approval processes or other barriers that slow down development.” said the CMHC statement.
“We look forward to working with Calgary on options to achieve this in the coming weeks.”
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said if city-wide rezoning was repealed, city council would develop a new plan to replace the HAF agreement.
"The worst-case scenario is council goes back to the way things were without any type of replacement,” said Farkas, adding. “the worst case scenario will never materialize here because we have a housing strategy in place.”
Ward 10 Cllr. Andre Chabot added, “that is not money we've lost, it's money we could have and so let's work with our federal counterparts to see what we can get while still delivering what Calgarians expect from us.”
On Thursday afternoon, the group, Calgarians for Thoughtful Growth (CFTG), sent to the mayor and councillors a legal analysis indicating Calgary’s HAF Agreement does not mandate citywide blanket rezoning in order to remain compliant.
“The review examines the publicly available amended HAF contribution agreement, dated March 21 2025 and finds that the agreement does not contain any clause requiring Calgary to eliminate exclusionary zoning across the city, nor permit four units as-of-right on every residential lot;” said CFTG in a press release.
The agreement also does not permanently prohibit single-family-only zoning or avoid development approval processes, said Rusty Miller of CTFG.
“These requirements simply do not appear in the written agreement,” said Miller. “Calgary is bound by the contract it signed, not by subsequent policy interpretations that go beyond its text.”
“The agreement expressly states that it constitutes the entire agreement between the parties and confirms that nothing in the agreement fetters council’s discretion as to future decisions.”
The agreement has targets for new multi-family homes being built, to earn bonus bucks from CMHC.
“Calgary has already exceeded its HAF housing supply growth target, achieving approximately 44,000 units against a revised target of 42,667 units, more than a year ahead of schedule,” said Patricia McCunn-Miller. “The HAF program is performance-based, and Calgary has met the housing targets.”
“The agreement sets outcomes, it does not prescribe a single zoning tool that must be applied permanently across the city.”
Other major municipalities, including Toronto and Vaughan, have retained most of their HAF funding despite zoning disputes, demonstrating that compliance is assessed based on performance and implementation rather than through an automatic forfeiture tied to a single planning mechanism, said the CFTG release.
CFTG closed the release by encouraging council to evaluate the matter based on the written agreement, Calgary’s demonstrated housing performance, and the democratic mandate for repeal of blanket upzoning expressed in the October 2025 municipal election.