Alberta government decries 'baseless, politically motivated' affordable housing report

Madeleine Cummings · CBC News

· Posted: May 30, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 4 hours ago

The Alberta authorities says it's rejecting the findings of a "baseless, politically motivated" study that gave the province a failing people connected addressing affordable housing. 

The Report Card connected More and Better Housing, released Thursday, gave Alberta a D+ — the worst wide people for immoderate state successful Canada.

Though writer Mike Moffatt of the University of Ottawa's Missing Middle Initiative praised Edmonton and Calgary for implementing "fantastic reforms," helium said the provincial authorities needs to physique much societal housing, chopped reddish tape, betterment gathering codes and code clime risks.

The state says the report is flawed and the remainder of Canada should travel Alberta's pb successful implementing policies that present "real results."

"This is not a study connected affordable lodging — arsenic it claims to beryllium — but is alternatively a study by a clime activistic radical that ignores world successful an effort to propulsion their greenish agenda," said Amber Edgerton, property caput for the Ministry of Assisted Living and Social Services, successful an emailed statement. 

Listen to Mike Moffatt sermon the study connected CBC's Edmonton AM: 

She said the study fails to admit the value of affordability, grounds lodging starts successful Alberta, and the province's caller gathering codification changes and flood mitigation efforts.

Who's down the report?

The Task Force for Housing and Climate, a radical of 15 lodging argumentation experts that formed successful 2023 to marque recommendations for governments, commissioned the report.

Former Edmonton politician Don Iveson and Lisa Raitt, erstwhile lawman person of the Conservative Party of Canada, co-chair the group.

The Clean Economy Fund, an Ontario-based charitable instauration that supports climate philanthropy successful Canada, funded the report.

Who other is criticizing it?

The study misses the people due to the fact that it's excessively focused connected policies, not results, said Kalen Anderson, CEO of BILD Edmonton Metro, a building and onshore improvement manufacture group.

"Alberta is the motor for Canadian lodging barroom none, and some Edmonton and Calgary are apical jurisdictions for ratio successful presumption of planning, improvement timelines, adjacent improvement charges," she told CBC News.

Anderson said there's ever much enactment to do, but Alberta is producing the astir lodging per capita and maintaining the astir affordable rents, amid record population growth.

Most conversations Anderson been a portion of implicit the past mates of years, astatine national, provincial and section levels, were "about trying to picture what Edmonton and Calgary's concealed condiment is, and wherefore Alberta is specified an outlier successful presumption of its enactment of lodging creation," she said.

Who's defending it?

Some say the study should beryllium a wake-up telephone for the provincial government.

Naomie Bakana, president of the students' union at the University of Calgary, said excessively galore students are having to take betwixt harmless and affordable housing.

The national has heard stories astir asbestos successful apartments and arsenic galore as seven students surviving unneurotic successful 1 room, she said.

"What the state needs to bash is instrumentality these recommendations into consideration," Bakana said.

Students can't propulsion distant grades they disagree with, so neither should the government, she said.

Janis Irwin, lodging professional for the Opposition NDP, said Assisted Living and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon often talks astir Alberta starring the state successful gathering much housing, but he's referring to market-rate housing. 

The authorities needs to put successful and summation the proviso of non-market-rate housing, including imperishable supportive housing, Irwin said. She added that that signifier of lodging prevention lives and, successful the long-term, money.

Irwin called connected each levels of authorities to enactment unneurotic connected the lodging contented to maximize progress. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi echoed the telephone successful a statement, saying all governments "need to measurement up and bash their portion to tackle lodging affordability."

Nadine Chalifoux, seat of the Edmonton Coalition connected Housing and Homelessness, said the state could beryllium learning from what different jurisdictions are doing to code the lodging crisis, from reforming gathering codes to gathering much societal housing. 

"I would anticipation that they would instrumentality that seriously, but it doesn't dependable similar they are," Chalifoux said.