Housing Accelerator Fund

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The Housing Accelerator Fund is a federal government program designed to help local governments create transformational change that will increase housing supply.

The City of Edmonton has been awarded $175 million to implement its Housing Accelerator Fund (HAF) Action Plan between 2024 and 2026.

The HAF Action Plan will help the City deliver more than 5,200 new homes over-and-above what would typically be expected. A total of 35,000 new homes will be permitted across Edmonton by 2026.

Note: Individuals and businesses cannot apply directly for the Housing Accelerator Fund.

Action Plan

New homes incentivized through the HAF Action Plan will be a mix of multi-unit housing, transit-oriented, missing middle and non-market affordable housing.

Breaking Down Barriers To Infill Development

Incentivizing Development in Priority Growth Areas and Near Mass Transit

The City Plan identifies Priority Growth Areas, which are the nodes and corridors (urban centres and main streets) in Edmonton’s redeveloping area (roughly inside the Anthony Henday) expected to see the most near-term growth. Both The City Plan and District Plans encourage development intensification in these areas and around mass transit - like an LRT stop - to support Edmonton’s growth management goals.

Why does it matter?

By focusing on Priority Growth Areas, the City can coordinate its resources and leverage existing and planned transit to help create a healthy urban, climate-resilient city where residents have access to a variety of housing and transportation options and can meet their daily needs close to home.

How will Housing Accelerator Fund help?

One barrier to residential infill development is the initial cost to design and install off site infrastructure, such as water, wastewater and storm systems, electrical distribution systems and street lighting, and mobility improvements like sidewalks, alleys and traffic lights. This is particularly true in cases where the infrastructure built by one developer benefits multiple parcels, because the first developer bears the full cost.

Through the Infill Infrastructure Fund, the City will help offset infrastructure costs in the short-term for residential and mixed use development in Priority Growth Areas, within 800 metres of mass transit in the redeveloping area, or non-market affordable housing projects in the redeveloping area.

The City will also create a plan for how it can use HAF funds to prioritize the development of non-market affordable housing in Priority Growth Areas.

Milestones

Infill infrastructure fund

Launch (Complete)
Funding applications will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis until July 9, 2026 or until all funding is allocated

Priority Growth Area Rezonings

Public Engagement: Summer/Fall 2024
Public Hearing: 2025

Affordable Housing Land Acquisition Framework: 2025

Promotion Of Secondary Suites And Backyard Housing

The City allows a diverse range of housing options beyond secondary suites in a primary dwelling. Backyard housing, formerly known as garden suites, allows single or multi-unit development in the backyard of single-detached, semi-detached, or row houses.

Why does it matter?

Secondary suites and backyard housing add flexibility to our neighbourhoods. By including smaller, lower maintenance and more affordable living options in our communities, older residents can downsize while staying in the neighbourhoods they love, younger residents can find housing that fits their budget, and families can enjoy the benefits of multi-generational living or rental income.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City will update its development guides on secondary suites and backyard housing to align with the new Zoning bylaw and any regulatory changes. HAF funding will support a promotional campaign to raise awareness among residents and developers of the opportunity to add this type of housing to their properties in conjunction with expected new financing opportunities from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC).

Milestones

Update materials: 2024

Promotional campaign: 2025

District Energy Infrastructure Rebate

Renewable District Energy Systems are a key component of Edmonton’s Community Energy Transition Strategy. In the Blatchford community, a City of Edmonton utility is currently providing renewable heating, cooling and hot water energy services to homes through the use of an innovative District Energy Sharing System.

Why does it matter?

As Edmonton gets ready to welcome its next million residents, Blatchford will be critical to reaching the City’s goal of 50% growth through infill development. Blatchford is leading the way in climate resilience, prioritizing housing density, active modes of transportation, low-impact design and renewable energy.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City will use HAF funding to encourage multi-unit housing development in Blatchford by providing rebates for District Energy Sharing System infrastructure and connection fees. The funding will be available for land that’s designated for multi-unit housing, focusing on low to medium density residential apartments/condo buildings.

Milestones

District Energy Infrastructure Rebate Program

Launch (Complete)

Zoning Bylaw Renewal

Edmonton’s Zoning Bylaw is the primary regulatory tool required to implement The City Plan and determines what can be built where. It sets the rules for:

Where new buildings should go
The type of buildings they can be
Type of businesses and activities that are allowed

Why does it matter?

Edmonton is leading the way among Canadian cities by allowing up to 8 units as of right city-wide. This transformative change allows for gentle density throughout the city’s redeveloping areas and is fundamental to meeting HAF targets related to missing middle and multi-unit housing.

Milestones

Finalize Draft Bylaw: Complete

Adopt New Zoning Bylaw: Complete

Implementation: Complete

The updated Zoning Bylaw was approved by City Council in October 2023 and came into effect on January 1, 2024.

Saving Time and Money

Streamlined Permitting

The City of Edmonton is creating the most transparent, efficient and fair municipal permitting and fee structure in Canada.

Why does it matter?

Improvements to the City’s permitting process have saved applicants $5.3 million and 67,600 days collectively each year.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City of Edmonton is the first municipality in Canada to introduce Auto Review for House Development Permits, a digital tool that allows applicants to apply for a development permit and start building on the same day. HAF funds will also be used to create an automated booking system for inspections.

Milestones

Auto Review for Housing Development Permits (Complete)
Automated Booking System: 2024

Bringing Greater Transparency and Lowering Development Costs For Infill

Infill developments undergo a firefighting water assessment in accordance with the City’s Water Standard during the Development Permit stage. However, given the timing of this assessment, the project can be far enough along that it is difficult and costly to perform significant design changes or undertake the necessary water-main and hydrant upgrades.

Why does it matter?

Providing information about the capacity of existing hydrants, termed “Available Fire Flow,” for any given parcel of land will provide certainty earlier in the process and reduce the risk of costly last-minute redesigns or requirements for infrastructure upgrades.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City will use HAF funding to develop an online tool that will allow the public to search a parcel address and immediately be provided with its fire flow capacity. It will allow infill developers to tailor their design to available fire flow capacity or factor the cost of upgrades into their plans.

Milestones

Infill Fire Flow Capacity Tool: 2025

Gradual Reduction Of The Multi-Unit Tax Subclass

The “Other” Residential tax rate for properties with 4 or more dwelling units on a single title has been 15% higher than the general residential tax rate, creating a disincentive for multi-unit housing development.

Why does it matter?

The elimination of the "Other" Residential tax subclass will eliminate the 15% tax premium currently charged for properties with 4 or more dwelling units.

Milestones

“Other” residential tax rate reduction schedule:

2024: 12%
2025: 9%
2026: 6%
2027: 3%
2028: 0%

Supporting Affordable Housing Development

Development of Surplus School Sites

The City is preparing 11 parcels of City-owned land for affordable housing development.

Why does it matter?

While Edmonton is an affordable city for most residents, there is a severe shortage of non-market affordable housing for households living in Core Housing Need, meaning they pay more than 30% of household income on housing, live in crowded or unsafe conditions, and can’t afford any other adequate housing. Providing City-owned land at a nominal cost to affordable housing developers is one of the most effective ways the City can increase non-market housing supply.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City will rezone and subdivide land where needed and use HAF funding to cover the cost of servicing the land, getting it shovel-ready for development. HAF funds will also be distributed as construction grants to the affordable housing developers selected through the land sale process.

Milestones

Project Kickoff (Complete)
Rezoning Public Hearing: Fall 2024
Developer Selection and Below-Market Land Sale: 2025
Development and Building Permitting: Fall 2026
Construction: Spring 2027

Deferral of the Sanitary Sewer Trunk Charge for New Affordable Housing

The Sanitary Sewer Trunk Charge (SSTC) is typically collected at the development permit stage to help cover the cost of sanitary sewer trunk lines. In 2024, multi-unit housing developers paid $1,259 per unit.

Why does it matter?

Avoiding development fees like the SSTC can provide a significant upfront savings for affordable housing providers. These savings can help affordable housing developments move forward and can be used to deepen or prolong the affordability for future residents.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City is currently undertaking a review of the Sanitary Servicing Strategy Fund to make it more compatible with EPCOR’s integrated resource planning approach. The review is expected to conclude by the middle of 2025. SSTC fees have been paused for all developments pending the outcome of the review. The City will use HAF funds to pay any assessed SSTC fees for affordable housing providers until November 2026.

Milestones

Implement and communicate deferral to affordable housing providers (Complete)
Undertake Sanitary Sewer Review: 2025

Capacity Building Resources

Building new affordable housing is a complex undertaking that requires land acquisition, financing - including government grants - navigating regulatory requirements, design requirements, construction management, community management and nuanced operational models.

Why does it matter?

There is a significant need for new non-market affordable housing of all types and subsidy levels. To meet the need, established affordable housing providers must scale up and experienced private developers must enter the non-market housing space.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City is using HAF funding to create a resource guide on affordable housing development, including information on financial models, grant stacking, how to build accessible and environmentally sustainable affordable housing and the types of operational models a developer may consider.

Milestones

Affordable Housing Development Resources (Complete)

Prioritizing Applications

The City has created new standards and processes that will prioritize affordable housing development and building permit applications and potentially enter an enhanced permitting stream.

Why does it matter?

Time is money. Prioritizing affordable housing development applications will reduce processing times and improve the financial viability for affordable housing projects. Projects that meet the City's criteria for non-market affordable housing will have their permit applications flagged to streamline the permitting process, improving predictability and timelines.

How will the Housing Accelerator Fund help?

The City is using HAF funds to update software and develop and implement internal processes to prioritize affordable housing development applications.

Milestones

Administrative Standard Development and Implementation (Complete)

How Can Edmontonians Access HAF Funds?

The Housing Accelerator Fund is a federal government program designed to help local governments create transformational change that will increase housing supply. Individuals and businesses cannot apply directly for the Housing Accelerator Fund.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) allocated $175 million to the City of Edmonton based on the number of units expected to be created through its HAF Action Plan. The implementation of some actions will provide opportunities for project funding. For example, grants will be available to affordable housing developers selected through a competitive process to develop the surplus school sites.

What Can HAF Funds Be Spent On?

The City’s contract with CMHC outlines how HAF funding can be spent. That includes:

Any initiative included in the City’s HAF Action Plan

The City’s HAF Action Plan includes:

Zoning Bylaw Renewal
Priority Growth Areas and Transit-Oriented Development
Surplus School Site Development
Streamlined Permitting
Prioritizing Affordable Housing
Deferral of the Sanitary Sewer Trunk Charge for New Affordable Housing
Bringing Greater Transparency and Lowering Development Costs for Infill
Gradual Reduction of the Multi-Unit Tax Subclass
District Energy Infrastructure Rebate
Affordable Housing Capacity Building Resources
Promotion of Secondary Suites and Backyard Housing

Investments in affordable housing

Includes:

Construction of housing
Repair or modernization of housing
Land or building acquisition for housing

Investments in infrastructure that supports housing

Includes:

Drinking water infrastructure
Wastewater infrastructure
Solid waste management
Public transit
Community energy systems
Disaster mitigation
Brownfield redevelopment
Broadband and connectivity
Capacity building
Site preparation for housing developments

Investments in community-related infrastructure that supports housing

Includes:

Local roads and bridges
Sidewalks, lighting and bicycle lanes
Firehalls
Landscaping and green spaces

How is the City spending its HAF Funds?

The City will receive $175 million in HAF funding in 4 payments between 2024 and 2026.

The City is investing that money in different ways, including:

Buying and servicing land to make it shovel ready for affordable housing providers
Providing capital grants to affordable housing developers
Covering the cost of infrastructure in priority growth areas
Providing rebates for some development fees
Purchasing technology and dedicating human resources to create better systems at the City
Promoting a diversity of housing types

An initial breakdown of the planned spending was presented to Council during the Spring 2024 Supplemental Capital Budget Adjustment.

The allocations may change over the course of the funding term to ensure that the HAF targets can be met.

Breakdown of Planned Expenditure

Infrastructure investments in Priority Growth Areas	$39 million
Surplus school site development for affordable housing	$99 million
Using new technology to streamline permitting approvals	$3.4 million
Land, grants and resources for affordable housing development	$19 million
New processes and software to prioritize affordable housing development applications	$200,000
Rebates for connections to District Energy Infrastructure for multi-unit housing developments in Blatchford	$6 million
Deferring the cost of sanitary sewer trunk charges for affordable housing	$2.4 million
Creating an online tool to assess fire flow capacity	$600,000
Campaign to promote secondary suites and backyard housing	$1.1 million
Administrative costs	$4.5 million

What are the HAF Targets?

The City of Edmonton’s funding agreement with CMHC sets out targets for residential building permits that must be achieved by November 2026 in order to receive the full $175 million funding allocation.

In its HAF application, the City projected that it would approve building permit applications for about 10,000 housing units each year, for a total of more than 30,000 units over 3 years.

The Action Plan was designed to incentivize an additional 5,236 building permits over-and-above those projections. The action plan is also designed to incentivize certain types of housing and the City must also meet housing type sub-targets (sub-targets are mutually exclusive).

The targets are:
Total: 35,443, including:

Over-and-above business-as-usual projections	5,236
Transit-oriented development	6,907
‘Missing Middle’	7,741
Multi-unit housing	8,520

The action plan must also result in 1,940 new non-market affordable housing units.

How Will this Help Edmontonians?

Edmonton is growing and so is our need for housing. Right now, 1 out of every 4 renter households in Edmonton struggles to cover housing costs, or lives in crowded or unsafe homes and can’t afford to move. The need will continue to grow - and we need to be ready to meet it.

As we grow toward a city of 2 million people, an adequate housing supply will be critical to maintaining Edmonton’s:

Affordability
Quality of life
Competitive advantage

The City’s HAF Action Plan will help deliver more new homes and more housing options for current and future Edmontonians.

View Housing Accelerator Fund Glossary

Contact Us

Email	affordablehousing@edmonton.ca