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Published April 18, 2024 • Last updated 9 minutes ago • Reading time 5 minutes
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Houses and the downtown skyline seen from the Griesbach neighborhood in Edmonton on Tuesday, April 2, 2019. Postmedia File Photo: Ian Kucerak /Postmedia
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In 2023, urban issues dominated local headlines. Valley Line Southeast opened after a three-year delay. Edmonton's new zoning bylaw passed 11-2, with nearly 300 people attending five days of public hearings. Immigration to Alberta has skyrocketed, with 31,371 people coming from overseas and 13,926 coming from other provinces. And, of course, macro factors such as inflation, rising interest rates and labor shortages were paramount. Above all, housing was on the hot seat.
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This year is shaping up to be no different. Since January, Edmonton residents, council and government have had to grapple with a series of complex conversations, from encampments to power supply threats to water shortages. And recently, a state of housing and homelessness emergency was declared.
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These discussions have always brought Edmonton to the national spotlight. These approaches to urban problems are often criticized and, in some cases, adopted as best practices by other municipalities. In the worst case scenario, our decisions can be seen as “what not to do.”
What do you do with all this attention? Our hope is that we can build an inclusive metropolitan area with a strong core city that welcomes the world, attracting talent and investment, and shaping spaces that meet the needs of our current and future residents. We are seen as a city with a focused plan and a determined commitment from all sectors to stay the course. A city of ideas, scrutiny, and compassion. A city that refines its practices when it no longer achieves its objectives. A city that compromises, solves, and listens to the needs of its residents.
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With two years remaining in the current Congress' term, we are at a critical juncture. What steps should we take? Where should we best direct our collective energy and efforts? Here are some thoughts on what city-building will look like in 2024.
Focus on the strategies that matter most right now. There are approximately 200 policy directions in urban planning that aim to influence urban growth and change over a period of approximately 40 years. Which do you want to focus on in the short term to make the biggest positive impact today?
In 2023, there were hundreds of reports, policy initiatives, and programs for Congress, the administration, and the community at large to consider. This trend is shaping up to be more or less the same in 2024. How are these efforts monitored and evaluated? Also, are they the most important actions to accomplish today, or should they be saved for future consideration?
We have the opportunity to collectively work on areas of strategic focus, and the successes we achieve through those focused efforts can be a catalyst for our communities. For example, we can and should step up our efforts to make downtown Edmonton not only a safe, livable and attractive place to live, but also a thriving business hub and a stable tax base. .
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Similarly, we need to plan for population expansion within new areas within an already tight housing market.
At the same time, moving to Edmonton cannot be left to wishful thinking. We must collectively work to attract that share by actively promoting the reasons why we live and work here.
A woman crosses the tracks while a Valley Line LRT train is stopped in downtown Edmonton on Nov. 4, 2023, on the line's first official opening day in Edmonton. Photo by Ed Kaiser/Postmedia
Accelerate the development of commerce and industry. Increased non-residential investment is essential to achieving Edmonton's Economic Action Plan goals, including the additional 52 million jobs needed as we grow into a city of 2 million people.
Achieving this vision requires Edmonton to have the land needed to meet its non-residential development needs. We are committed to supporting actions that foster growth in these areas to help the city remain competitive, diversify its tax base, and enable private sector growth. .
We encourage city governments to report on progress annually so that they can collectively pivot and adjust their plans as needed. In addition to Edmonton's limited supply of serviced and connected land, relatively high taxes and a complex regulatory environment drive up costs and further drive new growth in the region. While this may be fine from a metropolitan-wide perspective, it never serves Edmonton's interests as a municipality.
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Addressing the housing crisis by strengthening affordability. Canadian cities made housing supply a top priority last year. We currently provide affordable homeownership and rental housing that meets the Canada Mortgage Corporation definition of housing affordability (up to 30 per cent of net household income going to shelter). It is the last major Canadian city.
Our focus as an industry is to maintain this precarious strategic and practical advantage. Increasing costs imposed by governments on the price of new home construction have significantly eroded affordability for homebuyers and renters, thereby increasing pressure on continued affordability.
Even a small increase in costs could result in a significant number of potential homebuyers being priced out. Every $10,000 added to the price of an entry-level home (base price $400,000) removes her 7,951 households in the Edmonton metropolitan area from the housing market price. This increases to $50,000, resulting in an estimated price tag of $36,998. According to the city's own description of core housing needs, these households will be added to a growing group of households that require some form of government subsidy for housing.
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A pedestrian walks his dog past an infill housing project under construction at 11118 64 Avenue in Edmonton's Parkallen neighborhood on Friday, June 11, 2021.Photography: David Bloom Photo: David Bloom David Bloom/David Bloom/Postmedia
Restraint policy and bureaucracy. In early 2023, we worked with Parliament and the Executive to break the national news that Edmonton earned the top spot among major Canadian cities for approval schedules, government fees, and planning features. .
This is a regulatory advantage. Over the past decade, the real estate development industry and the city have worked together to promote a healthy housing market and good quality of life and address development uncertainties and barriers.
As the city moves forward with its new planning efforts, it is important to understand how these additional policy layers will impact costs for Edmonton homebuyers and renters and whether they are unnecessary to an already streamlined and nationally acclaimed development process. It will be important to discuss the potential added regulatory complexity.
As with any non-residential development, land for new communities in Edmonton is limited. Planning for new communities is unnecessarily restrictive and counter to housing demand. Man-made barriers to growth ultimately increase the cost of all housing. These additional policy layers should be revisited and removed.
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Successful city construction requires the efforts of many people. Our strength depends on your contributions. Our industry, including property developers, planners, architects and engineers, are very engaged and want to contribute. But there are many other organizations that play an important role, from community leagues to higher education institutions.
We need a complete ecosystem of city builders to reach our full potential for the benefit of our cities and regions. And it's important that we all be clear about what we do so we can leverage each other's strengths. When we come together and advance ideas and perspectives, we can build affordable, competitive, and inclusive cities that are ready to grow and ready to lead.
Susan Keating is director of the Edmonton Metro Urban Development Institute and vice president of community development at Melcor.
Karen Anderson is the CEO of the Edmonton Metro Urban Development Institute.
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