Affordable housing became an issue during the last federal election. Every major party leader promised to make home ownership more affordable for Canadians. Never mind their plans are unrealistic and mostly outside of federal jurisdiction. People are concerned about the increasing cost of living and, dammit, they want assurances politicians are going to keep it down somehow!.Federal politicians are offering to make homes more affordable by building housing themselves or subsidizing home purchases. Government-built housing projects invariably turn to slums and subsidizing home purchases will lead to an increase in home prices. Taxpayers and homeowners will eventually be footing the bill one way or another..Houses are like any other commodities in the only way to keep them affordable is to increase supply. This problem needs to be addressed by municipal governments, not federal..Calgary has struggled under an ideologically driven city hall for over a decade. Forced urban density has become an obsession and they have fought consumer demand for years in hopes of somehow forcing it to happen. Calgary’s efforts to compel people to reside downtown have been an abject failure. Empty buses and trains service an almost empty city core dominated by addicts. Meanwhile, communities outside of the city limits are experiencing development booms as citizens flee in search of new single-detached dwellings..The pattern is clear in North America. The cities with the highest levels of urban density are also the most expensive to live in. New York, San Francisco, Toronto, and Vancouver all have terribly expensive housing markets for homeowners and renters. Meanwhile, cities such as Dallas, Phoenix, Regina, and Calgary enjoy relatively low costs of living because they allow outward growth. If we truly want to keep the cost of living low and to encourage home ownership, we need to foster outward city growth..No level of government needs to spend a penny in order to keep housing costs down. They just need to get out of the way..Calgary has used its bureaucracy in order to try and strangle outward development for years. From conception to development it takes about eight years for a new community to be created due to the levels and levels of approvals. At any stage, a proposed development can be delayed or shut down. With this uncertainty, it is increasingly difficult to secure investment on such a long timeline. It is ridiculous and unnecessary unless of course, your goal is to hinder development..Here is what a developer has to go through if they want to build a new development in Calgary..First, an area structure plan has to be completed. This can cost as much as $1.5 million and takes the city 12 to 18 months to approve. The city often rejects proposals at this stage..Then a growth management overlay removal process has to begin. This can take 12 to 24 months before a project can proceed. Recently, 11 new communities were rejected at this stage..If a developer gets through those stages, they can move on with an outline plan and land use redesignation application. This takes 18 to 24 months. This stage requires a transportation impact assessment, transportation functional studies, biophysical inventory, biophysical impact assessment, historical resource impact assessment, phase one environmental impact assessment, a master drainage plan, and a water act application. The project can be held up at any portion of all those permit applications..Next, engineering and drawing approvals are required. That takes about eight months..Then the developer can move on with tentative plan and subdivision approvals over the course of another seven to 12 months..Would you invest in a project with so many variables and over such long timelines? Most people wouldn’t, and Calgary has been experiencing a capital flight because of that..The hope on the part of the city administration is that developers and home buyers will simply throw up their hands, give up and invest in inner-city housing. Just as the city’s strategy of harassing auto drivers hasn’t managed to make them give up and take the bus, the city’s attempt to coerce people into downtown living is failing..For every month a prospective new development is delayed, the cost of those new homes rises..Calgary is in the midst of a landmark civic election. There will be a new mayor and at least nine new councilors elected this October..There will be an opportunity to change the ideological mindset at city hall. Voters will have to choose carefully and ensure the candidate they choose supports drastically cutting red tape and bureaucracy. Permits and studies are essential, but the timelines and requirements for new developments in Calgary right now are absurd..If we want to see affordable housing for Calgarians we need not look to Ottawa. We just need to get city hall out of the way..New home buyers win and city hall itself saves money..Cory Morgan is the Alberta Political Columnist for the Western Standard and Host of the Cory Morgan Show
