Mayor Johnston talks ‘economic headwinds’ and disappointing rejection of housing dollars

Johnston said the recent rejection was disappointing, and that he’s asked City staff to begin charting a new path forward that doesn’t depend on federal support.

“We really have to brainstorm. The hope was that this would fuel several projects around the housing issue,” he said, noting council gave admin direction last fall to report on options around zoning for housing projects.

“We need a community-led solution, especially now that we know the federal government won’t be participating to the degree we’d hoped, or we deserve for that matter. This is a community that’s always demonstrated the willingness and a get-it-done attitude, so we’ll see where that goes.”

Johnston declared housing the biggest challenge not just for economic development, but also quality of life in Red Deer.

Meantime, Red Deer awaits its permanent shelter, $7 million for which has been set aside in every provincial budget since 2019. But the City’s stumbled in finding a suitable location.

A special in-camera council meeting March 11, and another update at the March 18 meeting, could yield more answers, but he hesitates to pinpoint when the exact location will be finalized.

Regardless, Johnston’s 2024 goal is still to get a housing project off the ground, and see the shelter finally move forward.

Red Deer does have a supportive housing project in Amethyst House, run by Canadian Mental Health Association, but it doesn’t fulfill the entire need for a city that’s seen its homeless population double the last few years.

Johnston said it’s a possibility the City will have to put up more money since the feds won’t come to play. He says council has an opportunity to refresh the Land Use Bylaw with a strong focus on affordable housing.

“The ground has shifted in this country and in every city where people, unless they’re getting direct support from family, are unable to crack the housing market. That’s not where we need to go,” he said.

Johnston explained that though Red Deer is actually Alberta’s most affordable city, that works against the municipality when applying for federal funding.

TURNING CHALLENGES INTO OPPORTUNITIES

Elsewhere, he told that the City has a plan to be back at the table in three years to return Canadian Finals Rodeo to Red Deer.

The event, after five years, announced rather unceremoniously in the fall that it was returning to Edmonton.

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“From the day we lost the contract, we have basically indicated that we’ll be at the table again,” said Johnston. “We’ll have a bid package in three years and I’m really confident that the CFR and CPRA will look at our facilities in a far more attractive way in their three-year absence.”

Johnston also teased exciting news to come this year related to Capstone, where a $20 million residential complex is in-progress.

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He noted a March 14 open house, 7-9 p.m. at Westerner Park, where residents can view schematic designs for the ongoing hospital expansion project.

He too mentioned excitement around already completed annexation northwest of Red Deer that will see a new commercial power centre take shape.

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From a council perspective, he noted, the Land Use Bylaw is due for a refresh in the months to come, and red tape reduction is a priority.

That’s not to mention recently approved high-value building permits for renovations at Walmart North, and at Collicutt Energy, among others.

Then there are the ‘economic headwinds.’

Growth is slower than hoped, he said, and unemployment refuses to decline, sitting at 8.2 per cent in Red Deer as of January, up from 7.9 per cent in December.

“We’ve been an energy servicing sector for so many years and we had a bunch of wallops come at us from about 2016 to 2022. There was the energy downturn and then of course COVID-19, and so on. Businesses … are still feeling the effects of COVID from a cash perspective. A lot of cash reserves were depleted,” Johnston said.

“You can see with the economic activity I pointed to in 2024 so far that cash and confidence are returning. I’m puzzled often when I look at that unemployment rate in Red Deer, particularly when people are saying they need help, staff and so on. I think it’s more an issue of skilled labour.”

That’s where ‘Team Red Deer’ comes in, he said of the City, Chamber and others coming together to broadly tackle economic development.

Scott Robinson, Chamber CEO, says economically, the region is flat.

“We have high unemployment and remain the highest region in the province, which is baffling. It comes back to a lack of true economic development opportunities happening. Oil and gas and some of the work in this region is flat,” Robinson said.

“We know the economy will slow a bit this year. Alberta will be the leading province, but we’re seeing more activity in Calgary and northwest Alberta than central Alberta. Nothing’s going to change a whole lot, at least for half a year, or maybe when interest rates decline.”

The housing inventory is small, and homebuilding is also flat, he said.

“Home builders aren’t doing a lot of work right now and that’s reflective of the confidence in the economy and growth. Red Deer hasn’t grown a lot in the last few years.”

But if interest rates change, he said, it could stimulate growth.

Meantime, the Chamber is set to release its final report from its Task Force on Homelessness this April.

The Chamber recently offered the public an opportunity to provide feedback on its interim report which came after eight months of deep engagement with the community.

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“When the community gets involved, it elevates the importance and urgency with regards to getting something done, and we clearly need new options. It’s been 20 years since we built anything new as it relates to supportive housing,” he says.

“The government-only approach is so risky and limited in the sense that we wait for answers and then nothing comes. The community needs to step up and build something, not wait for the capital, and that may mean we need to figure out what it will take for a private sector developer to build something.”

Robinson believes too that the City needs to get an answer from the federal government about why its application was declined, so that it can stand a better chance of approval in the future.

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by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

Mayor Johnston talks ‘economic headwinds’ and disappointing rejection of housing dollars

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