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The City of Edmonton’s zoning map now shows available fire flow calculations for most titled parcels. This update was designed to streamline development permit reviews as part of the Housing Accelerator Fund Action Plan.
The Housing Accelerator Fund is a federal government program designed to help local governments create transformational change to increase housing supply.
The City of Edmonton is receiving $192 million in federal funding to support 13 policies aimed at reducing barriers and incentivizing a mix of multi-unit housing, transit-oriented, missing middle and non-market affordable housing.
The HAF Action Plan will help the City deliver more than 5,700 new homes over-and-above what would typically be expected. A total of nearly 36,000 new homes will be permitted across Edmonton by 2026.
The City is currently on track to complete all targets under agreed timelines. As of January 2026, 10 of 13 initiatives were already complete, with three remaining initiatives on track to completion.
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.
The City Plan identifies Priority Growth Areas, which are the nodes and corridors, urban centres and main streets, in Edmonton’s redeveloping area, which is 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 the 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 and support the development of non-market affordable housing in Priority Growth Areas.
Priority Growth Area Rezonings
Affordable Housing Land Acquisition Framework: 2025
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).
Promotion of existing material: Complete
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.
District Energy Infrastructure Rebate Program: 2025
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:
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.
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.
This initiative will establish an expedited permitting process for standardized missing middle housing designs within the Residential Small Scale (RS) zone. By reducing administrative wait times associated with permitting and approvals, this program will enable more efficient delivery of missing middle housing options.
Why does it matter?
The fast-track process for standardized drawings aims to reduce permit wait times to align with greenfield development timelines. By streamlining approvals for pre-approved missing middle and infill housing designs, this initiative will enhance efficiency while improving design quality and regulatory compliance..
Milestones
Downtown Edmonton hosts thousands of post-secondary students who bring energy, ambition and opportunity to the city’s core. This $15-million program will help successful applicants with the construction costs for housing built to meet student needs.
Why does it matter?
A growing number of students are attending post-secondary institutions that have expanded in Edmonton’s Downtown. When students in Edmonton succeed, the city benefits; we want graduates with new skills and new ideas to stay in Edmonton and make their dreams and ambitions a reality. Creating more student housing downtown will help create a more economically and culturally vibrant city centre.
How will HAF help?
The City is using HAF funds to incentivize the development of student housing.
Milestones
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. Additionally, HAF funds will be used to create an automated booking system for inspections and to incorporate artificial intelligence technology to address low risk applications and permits, reallocating resources to more complex development projects.
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 available 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.
Infill Fire Flow Capacity Tool (Complete)
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.
“Other” residential tax rate reduction schedule:
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.
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, in discussion with affordable housing providers, used HAF funds to provide a rebate for sanitary sewer trunk costs for the duration of the HAF contract. Additionally, SSTC fees have been paused for all developments while work continues on the Sanitary Servicing Strategy Fund Transformation.
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.
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.
Administrative Standard Development and Implementation: Complete
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 $192 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.
The City’s contract with CMHC outlines how HAF funding can be spent. That includes:
The City’s HAF Action Plan includes:
Includes:
Includes:
Includes:
The City will receive up to $192.6 million in HAF funding in 4 payments between 2024 and 2026.
The City is investing that money in different ways, including:
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.
| 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 |
The City of Edmonton must regularly report on its progress on HAF initiatives and targets in order to receive funding. Funds will be disbursed in 4 payments.
November:
City of Edmonton signs agreement with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) and receives first HAF funding disbursement ($43.79 million)
February:
Federal government announces Edmonton’s HAF funding
December:
First annual progress report submitted to CMHC
Quarter 1:
2 of 4 funding disbursements (up to $43.79 million)
March:
CMHC allocates an additional $17 million for two new actions. City of Edmonton receives $5.83 million of new funding.
December:
Progress report due
Quarter 1:
3 of 4 funding disbursements (up to $49.62 million)
December:
Final annual progress report due
Quarter 1:
4 of 4 funding disbursements (up to $49.62 million)
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 $192 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: 35,934, including:
| Over-and-above business-as-usual projections | 5,737 |
|---|---|
| Transit-oriented development | 7,308 |
| ‘Missing Middle’ | 7,758 |
| Multi-unit housing | 8,520 |
The action plan must also result in 1,940 new non-market affordable housing units.
July 2025
January 2025
November 2024
October 2024
September 2024
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:
The City’s HAF Action Plan will help deliver more new homes and more housing options for current and future Edmontonians.
| affordablehousing@edmonton.ca |