It’s an empty parcel of undeveloped land – a rather unremarkable rectangle of grass bordered by an evangelical hall, a railway track and a modest townhouse complex.
But with a little help from some friends, it’s quickly growing into a field of dreams.
A unique public-private partnership and Calgary’s first-ever community land trust have joined to create the promise of affordable housing in perpetuity for several low-income families.
And at a special rosebush-planting ceremony last week to mark the initial project of the Calgary Community Land Trust Society, ceremonial shovels pierced the earth where a 28-unit multi-family housing development will soon rise in the southeast community of Dover.
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| Lisa Dempster photo, Business Edge |
| Mayor Dave Bronconnier, centre, was joined by Ald. Joe Ceci, right, and HRDC’s Steve Windlinger at rose-planting ceremony. |
“We do not need to have people sleeping in church basements in one of the most prosperous cities in North America,” society chairman Brian O’Leary told a group of politicians, volunteers and business representatives at the launch ceremony. Instead, O’Leary said, freeing up land and ensuring new projects remain affordable will go a long way toward addressing Calgary’s growing problem of homelessness.
The new development, to be located at 4849 Hubalta Road, will be the largest Habitat for Humanity project in Alberta. The international organization, which relies on volunteer labour and corporate contributions, builds simple, affordable homes – to date, about 34 houses for 58 adults and 122 children in Calgary, for which the families pay through no-interest, long-term mortgages.
Habitat spokesperson Diane Reid said the Dover community requested that the organization be part of the project, because they recognize that home ownership helps change the dynamic of a neighbourhood.
“Homeowners vote more often, their kids are more stable and do better in school, and they’re more active in their community. To add a complex of this size to a community like Dover that has a lot of rental property, we believe this will be a really positive addition to this community,” Reid said.
The property for the Dover development was obtained when the federal government donated surplus industrial land owned in northeast Calgary, which was swapped with city land through Human Resources Development Canada’s (HRDC) Real Property for Homeless Initiative. Lands administered by the not-for-profit trust will be leased at reduced rates to organizations such as Habitat for affordable housing and other charities that can provide shelters or transitional housing.
“This is the start of something much bigger . . . the first project of many, I hope,” said O’Leary, a partner at Burnet, Duckworth & Palmer law firm.
The trust was organized following a study launched in 2001 by the Calgary Homeless Foundation, the Alberta Real Estate Foundation and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, which brought together bankers, lawyers, developers and other professionals. The group examined similar U.S. land trusts before deciding to attempt to set up a financially sustainable model in Calgary.
Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier praised the involvement of the private sector in the project, adding it helps “leverage up” what the city is able to accomplish in helping expand housing opportunities. Partners on the Dover project include Cardel Construction, UMA Engineering and Poon McKenzie Architects. The Alberta Real Estate Foundation contributed $50,000 to help get the project off the ground.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction,” said local real estate veteran Ted Zaharko, who sits on the foundation’s board of governors. “Just throwing money into these things isn’t the way to do it. It’s to help people develop the right kind of projects and making sure it has a long-lasting effect. That’s a contribution that the real estate industry makes to the society they work in, and I think it’s great.”
The trust will focus on helping Calgary residents who earn between $18,000 and $35,000 and who pay more than 50 per cent of their household income toward shelter.
While the final design of the new townhome complex has yet to be released, project architect Wolf Geisler of Poon McKenzie described how the planning behind the three-bedroom, two-storey units will contribute to a sense of community.
“There’s a democratic approach to this in that every unit has the same orientation and the same plan,” he told Business Edge. The linked units, all just under 1,000 sq. ft., will be clustered in groups of three or four, sharing a common courtyard. Most windows will face south, “because we’re using the aspect of passive solar gain to help cut down on heating costs,” Geisler added.
Each unit will feature a main-floor great room with a corner kitchen, helping maximize interior space.
“Within a very affordable and simple package, it’s addressed a lot of the issues both for families, for the community and the environment,” he said.
Habitat for Humanity, in the process of obtaining a development permit, hopes to begin construction next year and have the project completed within three years. The project has been designed so individual clusters can be phased in as the Habitat organization identifies potential candidate families.
“I don’t think anybody expects to find an answer overnight” to affordable housing, noted John Currie, president of the Calgary Homeless Foundation. “It’s going to take years to make a significant difference in people’s lives . . . right now, we’re chipping away at a big mountain.”
In Calgary, that mountain is a daunting challenge. A single-night count of people living on the streets last year revealed that more than 1,600 were using shelters and services – up 34 per cent from 2001 – while 117 were sleeping in the streets.
O’Leary said the new trust society is looking for a variety of land donations, either from private, government or corporate sources. “Our promise to the Calgary community is that we will hold that land forever,” he said. “This land will not go back into the commercial sector and be flipped 10 years from now for a profit.
“We think the long-term solution to homelessness and lack of affordable housing is not simply grants and government handouts – it’s a partnership between the private sector and governments where we try to work together and make land available over the long term for affordable housing.”
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