Federal budget 'largely good news' for affordable housing, Green Line LRT construction, says Nenshi

Calling the federal budget "largely good news" around affordable housing and transit, Mayor Naheed Nenshi said Calgary should receive $1.15 billion in federal funding for the Green Line LRT as part of a $20.1 billion investment in transit over the next 11 years.

The money will be doled out through a bilateral agreement with the province that will be based on ridership (70 per cent) and population (30 per cent).

"And I have commitments as recently as today from the federal government that they will also fund their additional $400  [million] or $450 million that they promised for the Green Line," said Nenshi, noting he spoke with federal Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi after the budget was presented in the House of Commons.

"It means we actually have in a budget document the beginning of the commitment that was made during the last federal election … this means we'll be able to move forward on the Green Line, and it also means it will be very, very important for us to sit down with the government of Alberta to get their one-third in place as well."

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The overall cost of the mega-project has been pegged at about $4.5 billion.

Housing commitment

Nenshi said he was also pleased with what he called "a historic commitment to affordable housing" by the feds in Wednesday's budget, part of $11.2 billion in funding over 11 years.

"When the funds start flowing, we'll be able to really make a difference to people," he said.

"There's currently 4,000 [people] on the Calgary Housing Company waitlist, there are about 19,000 households in Calgary that are living in substandard housing right now."

Tim Richter, president of the Calgary-based Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, said the money is badly needed and should be prioritized to assist the most vulnerable.

"For the first time in 25 years, the federal government is re-investing in housing and homelessness, with long-term funding, which is obviously going to be quite positive," he said.

"There are people in Calgary shelters and on our streets that could die from a lack of housing, so it's important that this federal money — when we figure how it gets spent — is prioritized for those people."

The feds also earmarked money for innovation and training, which Nenshi hopes can be leveraged into new jobs.

Calgary Economic Development is also working to attract high tech companies to the city in an effort to diversify the workforce. 

"I don't yet have the details on how that's going to work, but the fact the federal government understands the need to build these clusters across the country, particularly in our big cities, and the importance of innovation as we reinvent our economy — that's more important in Alberta than anywhere else, and it's more important in Calgary than anywhere in Alberta."

No time to waste, says Nenshi

The province will also receive an additional $6 million to deal with the ongoing opioid addiction crisis. Nenshi said that money needs to flow quickly.

"There is some real money in there but we need to make it stick," he said. "And that money has got to flow fast. We just don't have any time to waste."

Earlier this month, city council went over its infrastructure wishlist, which includes things like:

• Airport Trail N.E.
• Crowchild Trail short-term improvements.
• Flood mitigation and resiliency measures.
• Main Streets Phase 1.
• Legacy Parks Phase 2, tier 3 projects.
• River access improvements.
• N.W. water and sanitary upgrades (Brentwood TOD, Stadium).
• Corporate lifecycle.
• Investment Optimization Fund.
• Parks and pathway improvements (including Jack Long, Mills, Bridgeland, Montgomery).
• Community infrastructure lifecycle.
• Baines Bridge.
• ​Construction of a pedestrian bridge at 14th Street and 90th Avenue S.W.
• Various road improvements at Glenmore Trail and 68th Street. S.E., Deerfoot and 128 Ave. N.E. and 194th Ave. S.E.