We rallied on the steps of City Hall on April 22nd,  2024and urged members to write to their councilor in favor our rezoning or speak at the hearing, and then on Tuesday May 14 City Council passed the Rezoning for Housing bylaw by a vote of 9-6 after the longest public hearing in Calgary's history. Now single-family, duplex and rowhouses can be built city wide. This change cuts red tape in creating more housing supply which will positively impact affordability, and it creates positive housing density which is good for the environment! 

After the longest public hearing in Calgary's history, over 2 weeks of sittings with over 600 written submissions and over 700 speakers from the public, our municipal leaders showed real leadership in how they integrated the concerns of Calgarians with amendments to consider parking, privacy and parks, and yet still ensured that the city moved forward on this plank of the Housing Affordability Task Force.

We want to thank Mayor Gondek and Councillors Walcott, Penner, Mian, Pootmans, Dhaliwal, Wyness, Spencer and Carra for their leadership in voting for a city with more housing for everyone. We also want to thank those of you who rallied at City Hall, signed up to speak or provided a written submission, sent emails to your councillors, posted on social media or had conversations with your neighbours about why this change is good for Calgary. 

This is only one of the 98 recommendations in the Housing Affordability Task Force, and is by no means a silver bullet to ensure all Calgarians have the opportunity for affordable housing. More work remains, but this is a great moment to celebrate the impact of thoughtful, engaged citizens, and to take a minute to thank those councillors who voted to remove barriers to building more housing in Calgary. 

Organizing for change takes effort, time and resources, but it can result in good wins like this one.