New standard could help shift Edmonton's growth pattern
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The city is developing a new measure called the substantial completion standard aimed at supporting the City Plan's goal of encouraging a market shift from primarily greenfield development to infill. But representatives from the home building and development industries are concerned it could contribute to the affordability crisis in housing.
A policy in the City Plan (2.3.2.3) requires substantial completion of developing areas, defined as those within city limits but primarily outside Anthony Henday Drive, before authorizing the development of future growth areas, defined as land south of 41 Avenue SW.
On Jan. 17, city council's urban planning committee will receive an update on the development of the substantial completion standard, a component of the Growth Management Framework that administration describes as "one tool to address phasing growth, financial sustainability, and meet planned infrastructure commitments."
Administration said the substantial completion standard would help provide complete communities, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and delay the premature conversion of agricultural land.
But at city council's urban planning committee meeting on June 14, 2022, where the substantial completion standard was first discussed, Kalen Anderson, executive director of the Urban Development Institute - Edmonton Metro, said it could be a barrier to development, and that could make housing less affordable.
"Canada has a structural housing shortage, and has the lowest number of housing units per 1,000 residents of any G7 country," she said, suggesting that Canada would need to add about 400,000 housing units per year for the next decade, "over and above what the market is currently producing, in order to get back to balance."
She said municipalities like Edmonton hold the keys to unlocking more supply. "Edmonton has a strategy, the room, and the ability to grow within its existing boundaries, and this is an advantage that should be leveraged," she told committee.
Coun. Ashley Salvador countered that the city must consider more than just the supply of housing. "It's not just about increasing the housing supply, it's about increasing the number of complete communities that we're building," she said.
"I always think about, as a Prairie city, absolutely we have that room to grow, but we don't necessarily have the financial capacity to maintain and renew that degree of outward growth. So I think that the type of growth matters."
