Will Edmonton's zoning changes improve housing affordability? The experts are split

A major overhaul of Edmonton's zoning bylaw promises more compact development in existing and future neighbourhoods, but experts caution that increased density does not guarantee improved affordability.

If approved, the new bylaw would serve as a new rule book for what kind of new buildings can be constructed and where and what kind of functions they can serve once they are standing.

The bylaw imagines a less sprawling city where more homes are more tightly packed into every neighbourhood.

The number of development zones would be reduced, allowing for buildings of up to three storeys in all neighbourhoods, and encouraging different types of development to be built more easily in all residential areas.

City council will discuss the merits of the new zoning bylaw during public hearings starting Monday, but the proposed overhaul has already rekindled a familiar debate: Can increasing density improve affordability and help ease Edmonton's housing crisis?

Experts are urging caution around possible unintended consequences, and are calling for regulations that would put more pressure on developers to build low-income housing.

City officials say the bylaw is just one tool it's using to tackle the affordability crisis and while it will take time, the new rules have been designed to increase housing supply and protect the market from overheating as the population grows.

Inglewood homeowner Roy Coulthard said he welcomes renewal in his mature neighbourhood but is concerned that older, affordable homes are already being torn down and replaced with pricier properties.

"The new builds are coming in at very expensive prices," he said. "And it's actually chasing a lot of people out of the neighbourhood who have been living there, in some case, for decades."

Radio Active7:11Zoning changes won't make housing more affordable, says Inglewood resident

City councillors will hear from residents about a proposed zoning bylaw change next week. Changes would remove many zoning categories, and allow more types of buildings, in all neighbourhoods. Roy Coulthard lives in Edmonton's Inglewood neighbourhood, northwest of downtown.

Wendell Cox, a senior fellow at the Urban Reform Institute and co-author of the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability survey, said a new zoning bylaw won't solve Edmonton's affordability problems.

By changing its approach, the city could instead make the situation worse, Cox said.

"Higher density is generally associated with higher housing costs and worse affordability and that's a very big problem."

Boosting density has long been a mantra among urban planners but the approach doesn't guarantee more equitable access to a home, Cox said. He said there is room for increased density in Edmonton's market but that the city should proceed with caution.

"Densification is very popular," he said. "It's the planning orthodoxy. At the same time, the academic evidence [to support it] is, at best, mixed."

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Densification measures can falsely inflate property values in the core of a city, making housing less affordable, Cox said. As prices increase, existing residents on middle or lower incomes are pushed further out into the margins, creating a domino effect on demand.

Cox points to Vancouver and Toronto, where the cost of housing has skyrocketed at the same time density has increased in the cities' cores.

"Proceed with caution," he said.

In his latest review of international markets, Cox found that housing affordability has deteriorated at an unprecedented rate since the pandemic hit.

Edmonton, described in the survey as "somewhat unaffordable," was ranked as the least expensive major market in Canada.

Cox said Edmonton should be doing all it can hold onto its enviable place in the rankings. Affordability metrics must be monitored carefully in the years ahead, he said.

"Just following the standard urban-planning dictum isn't going to work," he said. "It's been failing all over the world."

Developers have applauded the proposed zoning bylaw for its more streamlined, less rigid approach to building density into mature neighbourhoods, as is called for in Edmonton's City Plan.

Approved by council in 2020, the plan promises to deliver on housing affordability through a series of measures, including the construction of more compact mixed-use development and by increasing the diversity of the housing supply in all neighbourhoods.

Not so cookie-cutter

Sasha Tsenkova, a professor at the University of Calgary's School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, said the zoning overhaul will see Edmonton move from being a gatekeeper to development to a less-rigid approach that encourages the construction of more dynamic, inclusive neighbourhoods.

"That's what a city is about. It's not about boxes of owner-occupied single-family homes in neat rows across the urban landscape," Tsenkova said.

"Whether that's going to make housing affordable is a totally different story."

Increasing the supply can make housing more affordable but the kind of housing being constructed matters, she said.

Density must be done well, to ensure that new development doesn't gentrify the neighbourhood and that the new homes are accessible to people on all income brackets.

The zoning overhaul would deliver more homes smaller homes that cater to a different demographics, as opposed to mainly single-family homes, she said.

"But it's not going to address the massive shortage for affordable housing that we are facing across Canada."

There could be trickle-down effects from the increased supply as people move up the real-estate ladder, but larger market forces creating the housing crisis will remain entrenched, she said.

Tsenkova said Edmonton should use more direct methods to deliver homes for people on low and moderate incomes.

Regulation is often the most successful way to ensure developers invest in low-income properties, she said. Many jurisdictions set thresholds to ensure a reliable supply of non-market and low-income housing.

"The moment really the emphasis is on supply and but we cannot build our way out of the affordable housing crisis that we have created."

Christel Kjenner, the city's director of affordable housing and homelessness, said inclusionary housing strategies have been used before in Edmonton but are only effective in the hottest of housing markets.

Kjenner said the bylaw will be more effective in improving affordability but is just one way the city is tackling the affordability crisis.

"Zoning alone is not enough to assure affordability, especially for households with low and very low incomes, so we need a full toolbox," she said.

She said the bylaw will be more effective in improving affordability but is just one way the city is tackling the affordability crisis.

"Although we don't have the same issues that other cities in Canada might be experiencing, like Toronto or Vancouver, where people earning median or even above-median income can't afford housing, we are headed on that path if we don't take the steps needed."

The bylaw will not be a quick fix, she said. It'sexpected to take decades to pay dividends.

Kjenner said that if the new rules for development are approved, changes in the housing supply would be incremental, but help keep prices in check as the city contends with exponential population growth in the decades ahead.

"The housing affordability crisis in Canada has been decades and it's not going to be fixed overnight," she said. "The supply that will be generated, when it's brand new, might not be as affordable as what it's replacing. But there will be a number of additional homes available and, over time, those costs will come down."

She said city's affordable housing investment plan, which provides grants for non-market housing, has led to the construction of 2,800 affordable units since 2018.

Progress has been made but the situation remains critical, Kjenner said. More than 60,000 Edmonton households are expected to be living in unaffordable or substandard homes by 2026.

Edmonton AM6:08Does adding density to neighbourhoods make housing more affordable?

The City of Edmonton is preparing for a major overhaul of its zoning rules for the first time in 50 years. To find out more, we chat with Christina Stacy, a researcher at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. as she answers if adding density to neighbourhoods makes housing more affordable.

Sandeep Agrawal, a University of Alberta professor who studies equity in urban planning, supports the zoning bylaw renewal, describing the current rules as overly rigid.

The bylaw will improve affordability but will not solve all of Edmonton's housing woes, he said.

"It should not be seen as a panacea to solve, all the different dimensions of the problems that encapsulate the housing sector.

"Zoning is something that the city can put out, but again, the market has to take the bite."