Committee OK’s Rosedale housing project
City committee OKs contentious plan in Rosedale in wake of ‘insane bigotry’
Virulent attacks against an affordable housing project don’ t represent the views of the wider community, say two Rosedale residents who addressed a city committee Thursday.
The city plans to build 16 affordable housing units on eight vacant, municipally-owned lots adjacent to a sound wall in the northwest community.
During the city’s public engagement process, some residents suggested allowing a particular “class of people” would cause property values to plunge, threatening their retirement plans.
One resident boldly suggested city hall “just concentrate them in one place in S.E or N.E.”
But Colin Crump and Tom Spear, who both live next to one of the narrow lots between 4A Street and 9th Street N.W., adjacent to the 16th Avenue sound wall, told councillors they oppose the project for very different reasons.
Crump and Spear question the project’s cost, the lack of consultation by the city, and suggested the one-bedroom units wouldn’t accommodate families.
“The community believes in affordable housing,” Crump said. “The problem is…not everyone in the community was engaged. Only streets that were impacted were engaged.”
The project is expected to cost $3.96 million, including $225,000 for each of the 16 units — far more than what you can currently purchase a two-bedroom apartment for, said Crump.
“From an economic, taxpayer standpoint, it makes zero sense to me,” he said. “In these times, spending taxpayer money wisely is a big concern of mine.”
Spear agreed, stating his opposition to the project had a lot to do with its cost.
“If you go to any neighbourhood, unfortunately, you’re always going to get that certain segment of the community that is kind of Trump-oriented,” he said, referring to the U.S. Republican presidential nominee.
Crump and Spear were the only residents who addressed the committee, evoking praise from Coun. Evan Woolley.
“I won’t really touch on the comments — and some of the really quite insane bigotry that came out of this — but what I like was that the two gentleman ... spoke about the things that neighbours naturally care about,” Woolley said.
The city’s land and asset committee approved the proposal in a 3-1 vote that will now go before council as whole in September.
Coun. Shane Keating opposed the plan, while councillors Gian-Carlo Carra, Druh Farrell and Woolley supported it. Three other committee members — councillors Richard Pootmans, Sean Chu and Ward Sutherland — did not attend Thursday’s meeting.
Keating said he liked the concept but questioned the price tag, including land value, and wondered why all eight city-owned lots had to be a package.
“There could be an opportunity where we can sell off four, take that money and build elsewhere and get more bedrooms per unit,” he said.
Lee Prevost, the acting manager at Calgary Housing Company, told councillors that at $225,000 or less per unit, the units in Rosedale would be the cheapest built by the city-owned subsidiary in the past decade. The city has failed to build any new affordable housing units in the last three years. Meanwhile, the waiting list has climbed to roughly 4,000 people.
“This is a small commitment to our affordable housing portfolio that, if done well and designed well ... will fit in seamlessly with the neighbourhood,” Farrell said at Thursday’s meeting.