While Edmonton's zoning reforms, collaborative housing programs, and modern construction methods are earning national praise, the city still struggles to meet the growing demand for affordable housing.
Jeffrey Ku said he was heartened by the reaction from national colleagues at the Affordable Housing Symposium in Edmonton on Nov. 19. "I think one of the first things that just excited me was the fact that all these other folks from outside of Edmonton that had come to visit, had sat up front on the panels with us, and had mentioned what great work the Edmonton ecosystem is doing," Ku, supervisor of projects and delivery on the Housing Action Team at the City of Edmonton, said. "I think our partners needed to hear that too, and the city."
Edmonton has received national attention for certain pieces of housing policy in recent years, but the need for more affordable housing remains high. According to the city's housing needs assessment, one in eight households in Edmonton lives in core housing need, meaning it pays too much of its income for housing or lives in crowded or unsafe conditions and can't afford to move. City administration said that in the next five years, Edmonton needs nearly 40,000 more affordable rental housing units, up to 1,700 supportive housing units with wrap-around supports, and 189 transitional housing units.
City administration said the new zoning bylaw that went into effect in January 2024 makes it easier to build more housing, especially higher-density developments in mature neighbourhoods. A one-year report said the city approved 16,519 new dwelling units in 2024, a 30% increase compared to 2023. The volume of development permits the city received also increased by 41% in 2024. At the same time, housing prices have increased rapidly in Edmonton, at a rate higher than in most other Canadian cities. The average rent in Edmonton increased by nearly 15% in the past three years, the largest increase among Canada's big cities. The MLS composite benchmark price in the region was $415,500 in November 2025, an 11.3% increase from November 2022.
Ku said affordable housing innovation, which can happen through new partnerships and construction practices, is needed. Jasper Place Wellness Centre's bridge healing program has innovated in both ways, Ku said. The program is a collaboration between JPWC and the Royal Alexandra Hospital Foundation, meant to break the cycle of vulnerable people being discharged from the hospital with nowhere to go, and ending up in the hospital again soon after. "If we are able to help with the housing and ensure that folks coming out of the emergency rooms and getting their treatment have an opportunity to recover and then find more stable housing, they're not reentering homelessness and then reentering the emergency department and emergency wards at hospitals," Ku said.
The program is designed to be repeated in neighbourhoods across the city. JPWC started with three identical 12-unit healing houses in the Glenwood neighbourhood. Earlier this year, JPWC broke ground on two more healing houses in Parkdale, and this fall, the previous city council approved two more in Calder and one in Highlands.
Funding for affordable housing increasingly requires innovation as well. Ku said Build Canada Homes, the federal body that builds and finances affordable housing, looks for modern methods of construction when allocating grant funding. For example, the first five permanent supportive housing sites built using Rapid Housing Initiative funds from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation employed modular development. "That was part of the requirements from CMHC at the time — they were more volumetric style, so they came in a box and you could lift (the module) up and slowly place it on like Lego blocks and then start connecting (the modules) and make sure that it works and then so on and so forth until it's completed."
The first project in Edmonton from BHC is Village at Griesbach, on the former CFB Edmonton site. BHC is engaging builders to develop 355 housing units on two parcels, some of which will be below-market. On another parcel, it is reviewing submissions from developers who applied to build about 45 units of housing, at least half of which will be affordable units.
Ku said work is ongoing to leverage additional opportunities for BCH funding. "What's the best way to frame our pipeline of available affordable housing to move forward ... and hopefully get some support from BCH to do so."
Jeffrey Ku was a guest on the Dec. 5 edition of Taproot Exchange, a members-only livestream that features different perspectives to support sense-making. Become a member for access to future livestreams.