Affordable housing report card gives Alberta 'D+' grade, lowest in Canada

A new report reviewing efforts to address affordable housing has given Alberta the lowest grade among Canadian provinces.

Alberta gets an overall D+ on the Report Card on More and Better Housing for failing to adopt better building codes, encourage factory-built housing and regulate construction in flood-prone areas, said author Mike Moffatt.

The Task Force for Housing and Climate, a group dedicated to tackling housing and climate concerns across Canada, created the criteria last year and commissioned the report released Thursday. 

Quebec, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island scored the highest among the provinces with a C+, while the federal government got a B. 

"Alberta needs to build more social housing but there's also a lot of red tape in home building in Alberta that comes from the provincial government that could be addressed," Moffatt said during a news conference Wednesday. 

"It's also a lack of leadership from the provincial government when it comes to building code reform, when it comes to climate risk."  

The federal government earned the highest overall grade for federal tax incentives for rental construction, leasing federal land for housing and motivating municipal zoning reforms, the report says. 

Moffatt, also the founding director of the Missing Middle Initiative at the University of Ottawa, assessed and graded each province and the federal government in five categories. 

Lisa Raitt, former deputy leader of the Conservative Party of Canada is a co-chair of the Task Force for Housing and Climate.

"Canada needs more homes, and they must be homes that meet the needs of today — affordable, climate aligned, and resilient to floods, wildfires and extreme heat," Raitt said in a news release. "Currently, no government is doing enough to get these homes built."

Five criteria

The report card focuses on five categories:

• Legalize density: allowing fourplexes and small apartments. Alberta scored a C- with the federal government got the highest grade of B. 
• Improve building codes: allowing a variety of housing forms with higher energy efficiency, and things like single-stair-case apartments. Alberta got a D, while British Columbia scored an A.
• Accelerate factory-built housing: moving toward a manufacturing industry that can use better materials at lower cost. Alberta got a D- while the federal government received an A.
• Avoid building in high-risk areas: hazard maps and avoid areas prone to extreme weather events. Alberta got the lowest score of D, along with B.C., while Ontario and Saskatchewan got the highest grade of A. 
• Fill in market gaps: finding ways to build more affordable, below market-rate housing. Alberta was again in the middle of the pack with a C, with the highest grade of A going to P.E.I. 

Former Edmonton mayor Don Iveson co-chairs the task force with Raitt.

"Particularly in a number of the provinces and particularly when it comes to the climate outcomes there, there are huge gaps that have to be addressed," Iveson said. 

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While Alberta ended up with an overall D+, Moffatt praises Edmonton and Calgary for their efforts.

"There are a lot of great things happening in Alberta. Housing starts are quite high. We have a lot of fantastic reforms at the municipal level in both Edmonton and Calgary, but they don't have much to do with the provincial government."

The cities have made a number of moves to improve zoning and increase density, Moffatt added. 

• Edmonton approves more than half of permits needed to meet 2026 housing target, city says
• 'Record-setting' boom in development driven by new zoning rules and new LRT

Edmonton was the first city in Canada to develop an automated approvals process using artificial intelligence, reducing permit processes from six weeks to six hours, Moffatt said.

Moffatt said he hopes to do another report next year to highlight progress made among provinces. 

"Partly this is an accountability exercise, but we also want to highlight things that provinces are doing well with the hope that they could be adopted in other provinces," Moffatt said.