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By Ashley Lavallee-Koenig

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Red Deer city council defeats motion to withdraw Housing Accelerator Fund application

Feb 10, 2025 | 2:17 PM

The City of Red Deer’s application for round two of the Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF2) is continuing forward after a motion to withdraw was narrowly defeated in the Feb. 10, regular meeting of council.

The application was submitted after administration received council approval on Sept. 3, 2024. It included eight action plan initiatives and the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s (CHMC) 10 best practices, to be implemented in the event that Red Deer is approved for funding.

Read more: City council endorses housing action plan initiatives for CMHC’s Housing Accelerator Fund

One initiative that sparked concern at the time was the concept of a zoning change to allow four units as-of-right. In the Feb. 10 meeting, council received confirmation that in order to receive the funding, if approved, the city must adopt a four units as-of-right policy into the bylaw for all residential zones.

The city will have flexibility in when it calls a public hearing and implements the change, but otherwise it is a rigid regulation.

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With this new understanding, council put forward a motion to withdraw the HAF2 application so they could debate the issue.

Mayor Ken Johnston spoke against the motion, explaining that he lives right beside high-density subsidized housing and hasn’t had any issues in his neighbourhood, nor has he seen an impact to his property assessments.

“It is becoming a civil rights issue in our country to be able to find adequate housing,” he said.

Councillor Lawrence Lee spoke in favour of withdrawing, saying “the devil is in the details” and that introducing four units as-of-right will have a trickle down effect to other regulations.

Lee commented, “It’s a whole redesign of housing types and forms in our city.”

The resolution came to a 4-4 draw, with Councillors Bruce Buruma, Cindy Jefferies, Chad Krahn and Mayor Johnston opposed (in favour of continuing the application). Councillor Dianne Wyntjes was absent.

City Clerk Jessica Robinson confirmed that a tied vote results in a resolution’s defeat.

If approved for the funding, Red Deer’s city council will have another opportunity to withdraw later in the process by opting not to introduce the four unit change, depending on what’s heard at the public hearing.

As a part of its application, Red Deer needed to include development targets for the next three years. The city anticipates 1,177 new dwelling units over the next three years, 352 of which would be the result of HAF2 funding. The remaining 825 are expected as a part of Red Deer’s natural development cycle.

If funding is received and those targets are not met by the end of the three years, the CMHC will require the money to be returned.

The city anticipates an announcement from the CMHC regarding funding recipients by the end of March, before the next federal fiscal year begins.

If selected, initial funds will be used to engage in robust public consultation and develop the new regulations required to maintain funding.

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