Secondary suites offer a homegrown solution to housing affordability woes

Canada is a success story the world wishes to emulate but, ironically, sometimes success can drive crisis.

In Canada, this success has driven the housing crisis. Our economic growth, opportunity and security, combined with our overall quality of life, drive up demand for houses. The cities of Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary are in the top tier of the most livable cities in the world. Who wouldn't want to live in Canada?

But we need a solution to our housing crisis — a solution that works not only for today but long into the future through various economic conditions.

Ultimately, local governments are the key to improving affordability by increasing density and providing more housing options. But our federal and provincial governments provide a supporting role by incentivizing businesses and individuals to invest and create more housing. The provincial government has a particular role in social housing, which requires both financial and human capital to build and operate. Sadly, the Alberta government can't be bothered to take care of our investment in thousands of units managed by that government. They sit in disrepair and terrible condition.

As a lifelong Calgarian and former city councillor, I appreciate the varying views on increasing density. Until 2018, council approved secondary suites on a case-by-case basis. It took more than 10 years for council to finally reform the process. Today, as council continues to broaden zoning laws, it faces similar challenges as concerned citizens want a say in community redevelopment.

I support efforts by all levels of government to increase housing stock by building or converting existing buildings. However, new stock will not provide genuine affordability — as we encourage construction, we create inflationary pressures in the labour market and materials.

In today's market with an individual earning $15 to $17 an hour, we need to find housing

Common barriers to change are a lack of knowledge and inadequate financing.

options for no more than $1,000 a month plus utilities. In Calgary, we have a simple solution to provide thousands of units to meet these needs without a massive inflationary effect.

Today, we have more than 12,000 approved basement/secondary suites. In addition, we have thousands of unregulated units. However, we have more than 275,000 residences that could convert part of their home into a secondary unit at a significantly lower cost than building new units. This effect is felt immediately, as most secondary suites can be completed in fewer than 180 days. Measuring housing development in days instead of years is a great opportunity.

The common barriers to change are a lack of knowledge and inadequate financing. Until recently, the municipal process was cumbersome. To its credit, the city has streamlined the process and waived development permit fees. It can still do a better job of assisting Calgarians with the process and maintaining the fee waiver.

The federal government is doing its part. We have already incentivized multi-generational housing upgrades by providing a tax incentive, but there is a significant barrier in financing.

The federal government could play a key role in removing that barrier if Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. would provide, via a financial lender, secondary suite financing that will be registered against the subject property, provided the homes have equity and are owner-occupied. I will be advocating for this and seeking support from my caucus colleagues in Ottawa.

To further incentivize Canadians, secondary suites in principal residences would not be taxed on their rental income. This would ensure those on fixed incomes are not affected by the additional income as well as provide additional incentive to working Canadians. If approved for the additional construction financing, landlords would be regulated on the amount of rent that can be charged.

This will also reduce the demand on construction labour and materials as we are converting existing residential properties. Building a basement or even a lane house is much simpler, faster and more efficient than constructing new buildings — achieving real affordability with actual living space.

The housing crisis will only go away when local, provincial and federal governments, and all the agencies we control, step up and create housing for all Calgarians.

This is a great first step.