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Based on the Calgary Chamber of Commerce report “Home Economics II: Maintaining Momentum” released July 24, 2025
As a member of the Calgary Chamber of Commerce, I’m pleased to share insights from this important report that outlines the critical path forward for housing development in our region.
One year after the Calgary Chamber of Commerce released its landmark report “Home Economics: Unlocking Growth Through Housing Solutions,” the housing landscape across Alberta and Canada has evolved dramatically. The Chamber’s latest analysis, “Home Economics II: Maintaining Momentum,” reveals both encouraging progress and persistent challenges that demand continued action from all levels of government.
The Current Reality: Progress Amid Persistent Challenges
Alberta stands as a beacon of housing development success in a otherwise challenging national landscape. While Canada’s overall housing starts have declined by one percent, Alberta has defied this trend with remarkable growth. The province’s seasonally adjusted annual housing start rate of 68,494 units represents a staggering 79 percent increase over the five-year average, with year-to-date starts up 28 percent compared to 2024.
Calgary has emerged as a particular success story. With support from the federal Housing Accelerator Fund, the city has incentivized the production of 44,726 units over the past 20 months—a testament to what can be achieved when political will aligns with effective policy implementation.
These achievements come at a critical time. Alberta recently surpassed five million residents, with Calgary alone growing by nearly 220,000 people between 2020 and 2024. Looking ahead, the province is projected to reach 7.1 million residents by 2051, making sustained housing development not just beneficial but essential for continued economic prosperity.
The Business Case for Housing: More Than Shelter
The Chamber’s report emphasizes a crucial point often overlooked in housing discussions: housing affordability is fundamentally an economic growth issue. Businesses require workers, and workers require appropriate, affordable housing. Without adequate housing supply, labor shortages intensify and wage pressures increase, creating a cascading effect throughout the economy.
The data supports this connection. Calgary’s focused housing investments are already showing tangible results in market conditions. Rental rates in the city declined six percent from February 2024 to 2025, while average condo prices decreased 1.6 percent to $352,000 during the same period. These improvements create breathing room for businesses struggling to attract and retain talent in a competitive market.
However, challenges persist. Supply chains remain strained by global trade tensions and labor disruptions, while skilled labor shortages continue to limit construction capacity. The construction sector faces particular pressure, with Alberta’s construction industry showing a 5.6 percent job vacancy rate—nearly double the sector average of 2.9 percent. In Calgary specifically, the construction job vacancy rate reaches 22 percent, highlighting the urgent need for workforce development initiatives.
Government Leadership Across All Levels
The report acknowledges unprecedented political momentum to address housing affordability, with substantial commitments from all levels of government:
- City of Calgary: $60 million through the Housing Capital Initiative for non-market housing
- Government of Alberta: $1.2 billion over three years to add 6,300 affordable units
- Government of Canada: Launch of Build Canada Homes, targeting 500,000 housing starts per year over the next decade
These investments represent the strongest governmental commitment to housing in a generation. Yet the Chamber warns that maintaining momentum requires more than financial commitments—it demands coordinated action and innovative approaches.
Municipal Priorities: Building on Calgary’s Success
At the municipal level, Calgary has demonstrated that strategic investments yield measurable results. The city’s Housing Capital Initiative investment of $60 million supports non-market housing development, which creates a positive ripple effect throughout the housing market by allowing eligible residents to transition from market rental units to non-market housing, thereby easing overall demand pressures.
The Chamber recommends Calgary continue prioritizing several key areas:
Technology Integration: Leveraging innovative solutions such as drones and artificial intelligence to increase inspection efficiency, reduce application wait times, and improve overall productivity in the approval process.
Cost Reduction: Decreasing direct and indirect government charges on new developments while reducing approval timelines to improve project economics for developers.
Regulatory Predictability: Implementing efficient, predictable timelines for development applications, with the Chamber specifically recommending a strict six-week timeline for development and building permit decisions.
The city’s “Home is Here” housing strategy must be fully implemented, with particular focus on increasing density along transportation corridors and developing business-friendly zoning bylaws that support innovative modular housing projects.
Provincial Leadership: Addressing Systemic Challenges
Alberta’s housing market shows signs of stabilization, with average rental rates declining 0.4 percent from April 2024 to 2025, while detached home prices increased modestly by 1.7 percent to $607,000. However, the provincial government faces critical challenges in workforce development and regulatory harmonization.
The Chamber identifies several provincial priorities:
Labor and Training: Expanding post-secondary construction programs to address the severe shortage of skilled workers. Current demand for trades programs significantly exceeds capacity, with some programs reaching capacity within hours of opening registration.
Building Code Harmonization: Working with federal, provincial, and municipal partners to harmonize building codes across jurisdictions, reducing regulatory burden and improving construction efficiency.
Non-Market Housing: Increasing investment in affordable housing development. In 2024, Alberta funded only 798 new affordable housing units—well short of the Ministry of Seniors, Community and Social Services’ goal of 1,500 units.
The recent provincial-federal agreement allocating $203 million toward non-market housing represents progress, but sustained commitment will be necessary to meet growing demand.
Federal Support: Infrastructure and Innovation
Nationally, housing markets are cooling from post-pandemic surges, with rental rates declining 2.7 percent and condo prices dropping 5.2 percent across Canada from 2024 to 2025. The federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund and the newly announced Build Canada Homes initiative show promise, but the Chamber emphasizes the need for stable, long-term federal support.
Critical federal priorities include:
Funding Programs: Expanding direct funding programs while reducing bureaucratic barriers that slow project implementation. The Chamber specifically recommends targeting municipalities with high housing need and incentivizing higher-density projects.
Innovation Support: Encouraging development and adoption of innovative construction methodologies, including modular construction, prefabricated homes, and mass timber building techniques.
Supply Chain Resilience: Addressing supply chain disruptions that have increased home-building input costs by an average of 58 percent since 2020. This requires investment in ports, rail terminals, and aviation infrastructure, along with proactive measures to minimize labor disruptions.
Credential Recognition: Supporting interprovincial and international credentialing to expand the skilled labor pool available to construction businesses.
The Path Forward: Maintaining Momentum
The Chamber’s report makes clear that Canada faces a potential shortage of 3.5 million homes by 2030—a crisis that would have devastating economic consequences. However, Alberta’s success demonstrates that coordinated government action can produce meaningful results.
The key to maintaining momentum lies in recognizing housing as economic infrastructure, not just social policy. When governments invest in housing development, they invest in business competitiveness, labor market stability, and long-term economic growth.
As Alberta prepares for continued population growth driven by immigration and interprovincial migration, the province’s relatively affordable cost of living remains a significant competitive advantage. Maintaining this advantage requires sustained commitment to housing development, infrastructure investment, and innovative policy solutions.
The Calgary Chamber of Commerce’s “Home Economics II” report provides a roadmap for this continued progress. By implementing the recommended actions across municipal, provincial, and federal levels, Alberta can maintain its leadership position in housing development while supporting the economic growth that makes the province an attractive destination for businesses and workers alike.
The housing challenge is complex, but Alberta’s recent success proves that with political will, strategic investment, and coordinated action, meaningful progress is possible. The momentum exists—now it must be maintained and accelerated to meet the growing needs of Alberta’s expanding population and economy.
This analysis is based on the Calgary Chamber of Commerce report “Home Economics II: Maintaining Momentum,” released July 24, 2025. The report builds on the Chamber’s 2024 publication “Home Economics: Unlocking Growth Through Housing Solutions” and includes data from various government sources and industry reports, including research from Scotiabank on social housing needs.
