CANMORE – A new housing needs assessment for the Bow Valley is estimating almost 3,000 new units will be needed by 2031 and more than 5,200 by 2041.
Bow Valley Regional Housing (BVRH) released its 2024 Needs Assessment Update for the Bow Valley Region last fall, identifying the significant housing-related challenges in the mountain communities of Banff, Canmore, Kananaskis, MD of Bighorn and Lake Louise.
“We need as much housing as we can get. We need attainable housing. We need market housing, too,” said BVRH CEO Ian Wilson. “That’s part of a healthy community, but the Bow Valley needs attainable housing or we’re facing some bigger problems down the road.
“Housing is the lynchpin around this all.”
Wilson, the long-time CEO of BVRH, emphasized the interconnectedness of housing with other aspects of a person’s life.
He said having housing or difficulty in finding housing can impact mental and physical health, leading to additional stress felt by individuals. He pointed to the need to not just have market housing, but all forms of housing in a community to solve local needs.
“There’s the prevailing attitude the market will solve the problem. ... When you live in a place where you can get top dollar for development, that market’s going to focus there,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s really hard since the market will likely not address the lower-level side because that’s not the market’s role.”
He pointed to how lack of housing can impact local economies. For example, if younger people are priced out of the market, it can have a significant impact on service level jobs the tourism sector relies on.
However, he added a struggle has been for both low- and middle-income people finding local housing. While service-related jobs often fall into the low-income sphere, middle-income people such as police officers, teachers, nurses and managers have had to leave the valley or commute from nearby areas such as Cochrane.
“It's no longer just the service level folks who are struggling. … I think our municipalities are doing a lot about housing, and more than a lot of municipalities do, but it’s just such a massive problem to be solved,” he said, noting the report is done every five years in alignment with census data from Statistics Canada.
A key caveat to the report is census data used was done when the federal government was providing significant economic benefits due to the COVID-19 pandemic shutting down aspects of the economy for months on end. Programs such as the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) gave temporary income relief for people, which depressed the housing needs at the time.
“While some household incomes in 2021 appeared higher due to CERB payments, these figures do not reflect the lasting reality many faced once the benefit ended,” stated the report. “Since then, core housing heed has worsened significantly across the region: advertised rental costs have increased at a rate four times higher than average wages, further exacerbating housing affordability challenges.”
The municipalities of Banff and Canmore have been aggressive in adding affordable housing. In Banff, the townsite has an estimated shortfall of 700-1,000 units while Canmore is anticipated to need about 1,740 units by 2030.
Canmore council passed the Palliser Trail area structure plan in 2023. Since then, subsequent moves have been done to start the development process to add 250-350 units of different types of affordable housing such as transitional and shelter space on the Moustache Lands. A four- and six-storey purpose-built rental apartments will add 144 units in the coming years.
Three Sisters Mountain Village, Spring Creek Mountain Village and Silvertip all have ongoing or future construction to continue. The Lawrence Grassi Middle School project is on the books in addition to several redevelopments of parcels of land.
In Banff, a new 90-unit affordable housing project on Wolf Street, while the Town and Parks Canada are partnering for up to a 40-unit employee housing project.
The municipality also made several changes to its land use bylaw as part of its Housing Accelerator Fund application to add several hundred market and non-market units in the coming years.
Wilson emphasized the full housing spectrum can include market and non-market units, but also less thought of housing such as continuing care, seniors housing, supportive housing and shelter space.
“That's a huge lack in the valley. There is no formal, permanent supportive housing. ... I speak with a group that represents parents of kids who are rapidly becoming young adults and older, who cannot live on their own and need this permanent supportive housing,” he said. “They end up having to leave the valley, or parents are scrambling and still caring for them well into their 80s. … That's one of the highlights from the study and we are definitely trying to work on.”
Growing needs, low supply
Of the 10,375 homes in the three municipalities, about 66 per cent are in Canmore. Roughly one-third of those homes are single-family units, another one-third are apartments or condos and the final one-third are either semi-detached or row housing. However, 49 per cent of Banff’s housing is apartments or condos.
From 2016 to 2021, the population of the three municipalities went from 23,165 to 25,895, with almost two-thirds in Canmore.
For household after tax income, the median for one person in Banff was $46,000; $54,800 in Canmore and $56,000 for the MD of Bighorn. A two or more person household in Banff was $104,000, $127,000 in Canmore and $121,000 in Bighorn.
In Banff, rental rates for a bachelor in 2016 averaged $850 but soared to $1,095 in 2023. For a one-bedroom, it went from $1,094 to $1,592 and a two-bedroom was $1,425 to $1,833 in the same time period.
Canmore rental rates also skyrocketed with a one-bedroom averaging $850 in 2016 to $1,656 in 2023 and a two-bedroom jumped from $1,000 to $2,070.
Lake Louise and Kananaskis Improvement District have 1,160 residents, but due to their being only 60 permanent housing units the data is limited and the two areas aren’t included in the report.
According to the 2021 federal census, there are 13,335 private residences in Banff, Canmore and the MD of Bighorn. Of those, between 73 and 89 per cent were used by full-time residents.
The average monthly housing costs were $1,820-$1,940 for owners and $1,480-$1,758 for renters. The median household income for owners was $113,000-$125,000 and $77,500-$84,000 for renters.
The vacancy rates for Banff and Canmore was mostly near zero per cent during that time frame.
“The Bow Valley's unique growth challenges – such as land scarcity, growth restrictions, and residency requirements – have made affordable housing both a pressing and complex issue,” stated the report.
The core need income threshold – where a household pays more than 30 per cent of gross income on housing – was deemed to be between $39,000 for a bachelor unit in Banff and $50,000 in Canmore. A one-bedroom was $65,000 in Banff and $70,000 in Canmore and $78,000 for a two-bedroom in Banff and $81,500 in Canmore.
“Core need has worsened significantly in the region since 2021: advertised rental costs have risen four times higher than wages,” the report stated.
The previous study released in 2019 estimated by 2027 an additional 1,100 units of non-market housing – which includes continuing care, affordable rental, permanent supportive housing and affordable homeownership – would be required.
It determined 137 units for continuing care, 643 affordable rentals, 63 permanent supportive housing and 250 affordable homeownership units were necessary by 2027.
In the Bow Valley, there are 307 supportive living and long-term care units, according to the report.
The study noted in 2021 there’s a population of 3,860 65 and older. By 2031, there’s estimated to be 5,203 with 106 more supportive living and long-term care units needed. There’s estimated to be 6,069 people 65 and older by 2041 requiring 175 more units.
“I think at the end of the day, a healthy community is one that meets the needs of everybody in it,” Wilson said, adding both market and non-market housing is needed.
“Obviously, if we don't have [affordable] housing, then they're out of options, or they live in situations that are unsustainable, whether that's financially or overcrowding and potentially unsafe, but certainly uncomfortable housing. That can lead to mental health concerns and social ills. … If you don't have that full continuum, then the continuum of people in the community will suffer somehow.”
