National Housing Day: Edmonton’s mayor says affordable housing should be treated like ‘core infrastructure’

On National Housing Day, Edmonton’s mayor expressed the importance of affordable housing, saying it should be treated like ‘core infrastructure,’ as the city anticipates a growing need.

“We never stop building roads, we never stop building our transit systems, we never stop building fire halls or recreation centers, so why do we stop building affordable houses?” Says Amarjeet Sohi, the mayor of Edmonton. “If we invest in getting people into stable and affordable housing, it makes our economy stronger, our streets more vibrant, and everyone in our community safer.”

Despite building nearly 2,800 affordable housing units over the past several years, one in seven households in Edmonton are on the brink of homelessness.

If more low-income homes aren’t built, Edmonton will have a significant affordable housing shortage by 2026, with nearly 59 thousand households left without a low-cost place to call home, according to a recent staff report.

Homelessness has more than doubled since pre-pandemic levels. Sohi says investing in affordable housing is more affordable than addressing homelessness.

“Investing in housing lowers emergency services costs, poverty risks, and costs to the public. Housing also provides safety by decreasing risks associated with houselessness like violence, trauma, mental health concerns, and substance use,” he says.

Jim Gurnett with the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness says homelessness began to rise in the mid-1990s when the federal government cut back on affordable housing investments.

“So there’s just no argument about what we need to do. What we need to do is get back like we did for all of those decades is get back to a shared responsibility to build housing that people with little money need,” he says.

Sohi says the city is now playing catch-up with the high demand for affordable housing and says just this year council approved 10 new projects.