16 affordable homes open in Mount Pleasant as Calgary Housing celebrates first project completion
Calgary Housing's first completed development will house up to 45 people in one- to three-bedroom units with rents from $700 monthly.
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Sixteen families now have keys to Calgary's newest affordable housing as Calgary Housing cut the ribbon on its first-ever completed development Wednesday.
The 16-unit building on 20 Avenue NW in Mount Pleasant will house up to 45 people in one- to three-bedroom units. Rents will range from approximately $700 per month in Calgary Housing's deeply affordable segment up to near-market rates for other units.
BoJiang, Calgary Housing interim president and CEO, said the achievement reflects the organization's belief that everyone deserves stable housing. "This is the first completed housing development led by Calgary Housing, on behalf of the City of Calgary," he said. "We're proud of all the hard work that went into getting these homes open after starting construction a little over a year ago."
Four units are fully accessible. The building features a 45-kilowatt solar production facility and heat pumps for all units — design choices meant to reduce operating costs and lower rents for residents. "With the electricity being generated on site and offsetting some of the cost to us, we're able to lower the operating costs. Lower operating costs for us means lower rents for the residents," Jiang said.
Calary Housing currently has 880 units under active development with thousands more in the pipeline. But the need is acute: recent data shows one in five Calgary households requires affordable housing, and with half of Calgary's neighbourhoods still lacking non-market housing options, the gap continues to widen.
Chief Housing Officer Reid Hendry said the market has pulled away from affordability. Since 2021, rents and prices have risen over 40 per cent while incomes have increased only 12 per cent. "The market is running away from an everyday average Calgarian," Hendry said. "We need any and all tools to create more housing, to create more affordable housing, but also just to create more overall supply that can meet the needs of Calgarians today, and the Calgarians that we want to attract to come here tomorrow."
