Land sale approved for supportive housing

Non-profit to buy a city-owned parcel for people with high-complexity needs

Calgary councillors voted Tuesday to sell city-owned land to a local non-profit agency for the development of a supportive housing facility dedicated to individuals with high-complexity needs.

A motion from Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott directed administration to work “expeditiously” with Homespace Society to identify a suitable parcel of municipally owned land, and sell it to the agency at “nominal value.”

“This is an opportunity to support Homespace in simply finding land,” Walcott said.

That would be the city's only role in the project, he added, as the non-profit agency would be responsible for the capital costs, land transaction fee and operation of the facility.

Homespace Society CEO Bernadette Majdell told Postmedia last week that the agency has been working with the Calgary Homeless Foundation to design a “high-support, place-based recovery housing facility” that would accommodate up to 250 individuals with high-complexity needs experiencing chronic homelessness.

Finding land for the project has been a barrier for the non-profit housing developer, owner and operator, which currently has a portfolio of 850 units across 33 properties.

Walcott told council the project would serve various city objectives, including the housing strategy, transit and downtown safety plans, as well as the mental health and addictions strategy.

“This particular type of development hits on so many different levels,” he said.

The motion passed 12-3. Councillors in opposition were Sean Chu, Dan Mclean and Andre Chabot.

Chabot said his opposition stemmed from the term “nominal value,” adding that selling land for less than it is worth could end up losing money for the city.

He said he'd prefer the land be sold at “book” value, noting that would still be well below market value.

Coun. Kourtney Penner, who seconded Walcott's motion, countered that selling land at nominal value would help “speed up” the development process.

“It's the least we could do,” she said, adding the city “should be attempting to strike more of these deals” in response to Calgary's ongoing housing crisis.

Mclean said he feels supportive housing and mental health programming are within the provincial government's jurisdiction, rather than a municipal responsibility.

“The intent is wonderful — I really think we need to get some of these high-complexity people into better places, but I'd rather see it done where the city is not paying for it all,” he said.

While she supported the land transaction, Coun. Sonya Sharp asked why Homespace Society was already identified in the notice of motion, as opposed to the city issuing a competitive request for proposal.

“Generally, good governance would have had this open up to the market to solicit multiple proposals, so that we know what we're getting into and have the best value for taxpayer resources,” she said.

“I really think we should be using the same principles here as we do when we're putting other things out to market.”

All eligible costs related to the land transaction would be supported by the city's Housing Land Fund, according to the motion.

The timeline to develop the supportive housing facility would probably be about two years, according to Majdell.