The new Calgary city council will hold what may become the most important public hearing of its short tenure on March 23, and it's Calgarians' chance to say, “Get rid of the bylaw.”
Let’s hope they're more successful than what many consider to be the most important meeting of the old city council, held in April 2024.
That’s when nine of 15 councillors voted in favour of the blanket upzoning bylaw, eliminating zoning rules in all areas of the city zoned for single-family homes. Implementing the bylaw was ostensibly to increase the supply of affordable, ‘missing middle’ housing in the city.
There will be two sides of Calgarians speaking at the public hearing and subsequent council debate.
Side 1 being those who have seen their property rights stolen; lifestyles upended by massive townhouse developments rising next door to their homes; months if not years of street-blocking construction workers and trucks taking away their street parking; blocking out sunshine on their yards; having neighbours in six-storey buildings who can see into their homes and backyards; creating fears of increased pressure on fragile infrastructure; pitting neighbours against neighbours and more.
Side 2 will argue that the bylaw has increased the supply of affordable housing, and Calgarians should suck it up.
Statistics blow a hole in that argument, proving blanket upzoning has failed miserably on the supply and affordability files.
In December 2025, the City of Calgary revealed it had issued 478 building permits under the bylaw, which took effect in August 2024. Averaging four homes per permit, that totals 1,912 units approved in just under a year and a half.
By contrast, the city issued close to 48,000 building permits in 2024 and 2025, most of which were apartments in major high-rise buildings, which are not built under the guise of blanket upzoning.
Affordability? Realtor.ca says new townhomes in inner-city neighbourhoods in Calgary are selling for between $600,000 to $700,000 and more in some areas. Those are not affordable prices.
Developers buying inner-city single-family homes for average prices floating at around $800,000 and selling four-unit townhome projects for between $600,000 and $700,000 per unit are very happy developers.
Calgarians, not so much.
The majority of current city councillors made repealing blanket upzoning a major plank of their election campaign platforms.
At the public hearing, there will be a lot of debate among city councillors about other money.
In November 2023, the City of Calgary and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) each signed an agreement that would see the city receive $228.5 million, plus bonuses, from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) to increase housing.
The agreement did not stipulate that blanket upzoning needed to be approved, said Robert Lehodey KC, and spokesman for the group Calgarians For Thoughtful Growth, which was formed to fight blanket upzoning.
The HAF agreement was amended in March 2025, but not signed by the city, said Lehodey.
“Calgary is bound by the contract it signed, not by subsequent policy interpretations that go beyond its text,” he said. “The requirements simply do not appear in the original written agreement.”
“What it says is that one initiative Calgary is to undertake is to promote missing middle land use districts and using land use bylaw amendments is one milestone, which is not blanket upzoning."
"Missing middle housing is intended to offer lower-cost housing than single family homes; sadly, that is not what is happening.”
The HAF agreement identifies targets of missing middle homes that the city must approve in order to qualify for bonus money, and Calgary has already exceeded those targets, earning a bonus of $22.8 million.
A vast majority of Calgarians at the public hearing in April 2024 were decidedly opposed to blanket upzoning; regardless, council saw the money and approved it, giving no thought to any unintended consequences it might create.
There are better areas than inner city neighbourhoods to add affordable housing in Calgary.
The city owns a lot of land where missing middle homes could be built. Many LRT stations have large parking lots, over which large high-rise apartment buildings could be built, providing ownership as well as rental opportunities.
The ten city councillors who promised to repeal are reminded of those promises (only Cllrs. Schmidt and Atkinson did not approve of a repeal).
It’s a matter of choosing democracy and the will of the people, exploring better land options, or saying ‘democracy be damned’ and taking the money and running.
The public hearing to repeal blanket upzoning will begin on March 23 in the council chambers and is expected to last at least one week. Calgarians are urged to speak in person or offer their opinions regarding blanket upzoning on the phone or in written submissions.
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