City of Edmonton pleased by housing funding in federal budget, but unsure how much it will get

The City of Edmonton welcomes the federal government spending more money for affordable housing projects, although it's not clear how much Alberta's capital city will receive.

The 2022 budget was unveiled Thursday. It included $1.5 billion, over two years, for the Rapid Housing Initiative (RHI), a program established to help build affordable housing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hani Quon, the city's acting director of affordable housing and homelessness, doesn't know what Edmonton's portion will be — but he knows what he'd like. 

"A per capita calculation makes sense," Quon told CBC News Friday. "In our best estimates that amounts to about $100 million."

In October 2020, the federal government launched the RHI through the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation (CMHC), an affordable housing Crown corporation, and fronted $1 billion for affordable housing projects.

Last June, it put another $1.5 billion toward the RHI.

The combined spending is expected to result in more than 10,250 units being built across the country, according to the CMHC website.

Edmonton received $61 million total through the program to build 348 supportive housing units so far, Quon said.

The city is building five modular buildings in Inglewood, King Edward Park, Terrace Heights, McArthur/Wellington and Westmount for a total of 210 units. 

Two hotels are also being converted into supportive housing complexes: the former Sands Inn & Suites on Fort Road will be run by Niginan Housing, and the Days Inn on University Avenue will be operated by the Mustard Seed for another 138.

Meanwhile, 98 studio apartments at the former Coliseum Inn on 118th Avenue and Wayne Gretzky Drive are in the process of being finalized.

In response to Thursday's federal budget, Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi expressed optimism it will come together.  

"I'm very confident that we will be able to tap into federal support to build more supportive housing," Sohi said.

The city's plan to end homelessness includes the goal of building a total of 900 supportive housing units. 

The mayor also lauded the Urban, Rural and Northern Housing Strategy funding, because it will help 80 per cent of Indigenous people not currently identified in other programs.

Co-op connection

Federal Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, while on CBC Radio's Edmonton AM, said she's excited about the budget's support for co-operative housing — an affordable housing option where residents own shares to their units, instead of owning the unit outright.

The budget earmarked $1.5 billion total for co-op housing development, and an estimated 6,000 units will be built across Canada, the budget says. 

"That is the biggest investment in building new co-ops — a great form of housing — in 30 years," Freeland told Edmonton AM host Mark Connolly. The budget also states this.

This is exciting news, said Ayanna Inniss, executive director of the Northern Alberta Co-operative Housing Association.

The last federal program dedicated to building co-op housing ended in 1993, so the new program is long overdue, Inniss told CBC News via email Friday.

"It is important to recognize this powerful model of housing as many people face the desperation and anxiety of today's housing market: characterized by renoviction and ever changing rents," Inniss said. 

Ottawa's committment to work with the co-op housing sector to design the new program together is also good news, Inniss added.

'Need is great'

Conservative MPs criticized the federal government this week for not going far enough with its support for housing in this year's budget. 

Quon acknowledged that Edmonton could use more support from the federal and provincial governments. 

"The need is great. There's no doubt about that," Quon said, noting that the number of homeless people in Edmonton has doubled over the COVID-19 pandemic.

The federal $10-billion investment in housing over the next few years, however, is still significant and will help the city get more units built in the short-term, Quon added.

"We've overall very pleased with it."

The city and housing agency Homeward Trust are still working out how permanent supportive housing complexes will operate, after the Alberta government excluded a funding request of $9 million a year to help operate the specialized housing in this year's provincial budget.