City outlines plan to increase affordable housing in Edmonton

City's affordable housing plan The city wants to build 2,500 new affordable living spaces in the next four to eight years. CTV Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson reports.

City officials have outlined a plan meant to increase the supply of affordable housing spaces in Edmonton.

In a report submitted to the Executive Committee, the City outlined the Affordable Housing Investment Plan, setting out plans for the city’s investments in affordable housing between 2019 and 2022.

The City aims to create 2,500 new affordable housing units. The City is investing $137 million of municipal resources, which is being used to leverage another $377 million from a number of sources, including provider equity, private financing, and funding from the province and federal government.

The City is working towards a long-term goal of 16 per cent affordable housing in each neighbourhood.

The report said in 2016, there were 48,550 low income renter households in Edmonton that spent more than 30 per cent of their annual income, before tax, on housing. Of those, about 22,350 households spent more than half of their income on housing.

The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation states that housing costs shouldn’t exceed 30 per cent of a household’s annual income before taxes.

According to the report, it’s estimated the city needs:

City administration plans to ask for $67 million in funding in the 2019-2022 operating and capital budgets, which would be budgeted at an additional $3.5 million per year in operating funds, with a capital profile of $53 million over the next eight years.