Watch: Major Federal housing fund boost for Airdrie

The City of Airdrie will be receiving over $24.8 million of federal funding. The agreement between the Government of Canada and the City of Airdrie is under the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF), which is aimed to, 'eliminate barriers to building the housing we need, faster.'

"[This] will help fast track over 900 homes in the next three years, and more than 3,500 over the next decade. By working with cities, mayors, Indigenous partners, and all levels of government, we are helping to get more homes built for Canadians at prices they can afford," said Federal Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities, Sean Fraser.

Minister Fraser was joined by Airdrie Mayor Peter Brown, along with other city councillors and officials gathered at city hall on Tuesday morning for the announcement.

"I am hopeful this will enable our community to address concerns around diverse market housing availability in our community. This investment will be critical in our ongoing efforts in tackling housing availability challenges, ensuring that all residents have access to housing options that meet their needs and are achievable on their income," said Mayor Brown.

Airdrie's Action Plan commits to seven local initiatives including streamlining zoning bylaws to allow four units as-of-right and medium-density homes such as townhouses and multiplexes across the city. They will also encourage more secondary suites by reducing parking restrictions and lot size.

"If we're going to understand and solutions that we need to bring forward if we're going to address the very real challenges that families are dealing with," Minister Fraser added. "The way that we're doing this is implementing systemic changes that are going to make it easier to build homes, [and] reducing the time for building permits."

The City's Action Plan will also make their development approval processes more efficient, increase residential areas along major transit routes, and accelerate development in the downtown core.

The Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) is a federal government initiative which allocated four billion dollars to support municipalities across Canada to help build homes faster. According to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the fund is meant to remove barriers to encourage local initiatives to build more homes, faster. 

According to the CMHC, there were two funding streams available for applicants, an urban funding stream, which was for municipalities of a population over 10,0000, as well as a rural funding stream. Thus far in Alberta, Calgary has successfully applied and been granted funds through the HAF.

Airdrie is one of several Alberta cities to see major federal funding as part of the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF). Last month, it was announced that the Towns of Banff, Sylvan Lake, Bow Island, Westlock, Smoky Lake and the Village of Duchess had all reached agreements to fast-track a combined total of over 400 homes over the next three years. 

In late 2023, The City of Calgary also announced that it had reached an agreement with the federal government to fast-track over 6,800 housing units over the next three years.

Before Tuesday's announcement, the HAF had been a topic of discussion in numerous city council meetings stretching back to June 2023. During a presentation to council in June on the Affordable Housing Principled Action Plan and the CMHC Housing Accelerator Fund city documents stated that, 'the fund’s objective is to achieve at least 100,000 more homes and support lasting changes that will improve housing supply for years to come.'

"The HAF has a much higher potential to leverage external funding applied to housing solutions in Airdrie than any other previously pursued funding opportunity. HAF funding incentives are applied to all types of housing, however, proposals that include Transit Orientated Development (TOD), Missing Middle Housing and Affordable Housing will receive exponentially more funding."

In an example provided by the CMHC, an applicant who proposes achieving 500 permitted homes of diverse housing types would be eligible for $16 million in HAF grant funding.

"Recipients of HAF also enjoy a high level of flexibility in determining how the funds are used beyond resourcing the proposed HAF 7 Item Plan. City investments in housing infrastructure and community-related infrastructure that support housing (like roads or bridges) are allowed uses of HAF funding."

Affordable housing has also been a frequent topic at Airdrie's city council chambers recently. In early February, council heard that Airdrie residents who need in-core housing needs have increased by approximately 44 per cent in the last seven years. 

A recent 2021 census stated that 1,985 households need core housing; though that number is expected to rise to 2,864 by 2031.

This federal funding announcement for Airdrie is the second in as many months. In January, it was announced that The City of Airdrie would receive over $1 million in federal funding to help proactively combat gun and gang violence in the city. 

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