Affordable housing report card gives Alberta 'D+' grade, lowest in Canada

Natasha Riebe · CBC News

· Posted: May 29, 2025 6:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 6 hours ago

A caller study reviewing efforts to code affordable lodging has fixed Alberta the lowest people among Canadian provinces.

Alberta gets an wide D+ connected the Report Card connected More and Better Housing for failing to follow amended gathering codes, encourage factory-built housing and modulate operation successful flood-prone areas, said writer Mike Moffatt.

The Task Force for Housing and Climate, a radical dedicated to tackling lodging and clime concerns crossed Canada, created the criteria past twelvemonth and commissioned the study released Thursday. 

Quebec, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island scored the highest among the provinces with a C+, portion the national authorities got a B. 

"Alberta needs to physique much societal lodging but there's besides a batch of reddish portion successful location gathering successful Alberta that comes from the provincial authorities that could beryllium addressed," Moffatt said during a quality league Wednesday. 

"It's besides a deficiency of enactment from the provincial authorities erstwhile it comes to gathering codification reform, erstwhile it comes to clime risk."  

The national authorities earned the highest wide people for national taxation incentives for rental construction, leasing national onshore for lodging and motivating municipal zoning reforms, the study says. 

Moffatt, besides the founding manager of the Missing Middle Initiative astatine the University of Ottawa, assessed and graded each state and the national authorities successful 5 categories. 

Lisa Raitt, erstwhile lawman person of the Conservative Party of Canada is simply a co-chair of the Task Force for Housing and Climate.

"Canada needs much homes, and they indispensable beryllium homes that conscionable the needs of contiguous — affordable, clime aligned, and resilient to floods, wildfires and utmost heat," Raitt said successful a quality release. "Currently, nary authorities is doing capable to get these homes built."

Five criteria

The study paper focuses connected 5 categories:

• Legalize density: allowing fourplexes and tiny apartments. Alberta scored a C- with the national authorities got the highest people of B. 
• Improve gathering codes: allowing a assortment of lodging forms with higher vigor efficiency, and things similar single-stair-case apartments. Alberta got a D, portion British Columbia scored an A.
• Accelerate factory-built housing: moving toward a manufacturing manufacture that tin usage amended materials astatine little cost. Alberta got a D- portion the national authorities received an A.
• Avoid gathering successful high-risk areas: hazard maps and debar areas prone to utmost upwind events. Alberta got the lowest people of D, on with B.C., portion Ontario and Saskatchewan got the highest people of A. 
• Fill successful marketplace gaps: finding ways to physique much affordable, beneath market-rate housing. Alberta was again successful the mediate of the battalion with a C, with the highest people of A going to P.E.I. 

Former Edmonton politician Don Iveson co-chairs the task unit with Raitt.

"Particularly successful a fig of the provinces and peculiarly erstwhile it comes to the clime outcomes there, determination are immense gaps that person to beryllium addressed," Iveson said. 

LISTEN | Task unit aims to tackle lodging crisis:

While Alberta ended up with an wide D+, Moffatt praises Edmonton and Calgary for their efforts.

"There are a batch of large things happening successful Alberta. Housing starts are rather high. We person a batch of fantastic reforms astatine the municipal level successful some Edmonton and Calgary, but they don't person overmuch to bash with the provincial government."

The cities person made a fig of moves to amended zoning and summation density, Moffatt added. 

• Edmonton approves much than fractional of permits needed to conscionable 2026 lodging target, metropolis says
• 'Record-setting' roar successful improvement driven by caller zoning rules and caller LRT

Edmonton was the archetypal metropolis successful Canada to make an automated approvals process utilizing artificial intelligence, reducing licence processes from six weeks to six hours, Moffatt said.

Moffatt said helium hopes to bash different study adjacent twelvemonth to item advancement made among provinces. 

"Partly this is an accountability exercise, but we besides privation to item things that provinces are doing good with the anticipation that they could beryllium adopted successful different provinces," Moffatt said.