Through the Climate Leadership Plan, the Government of Alberta is taking steps to address the challenge of climate change. Getting it Right: A More Energy Efficient Alberta deals with one aspect of the government’s plan: the creation of Energy Efficiency Alberta, a not-for-profit Crown Agency that will support energy-efficient programs and services for homes and businesses.
If Calgary is to meet its growing obligations in a more sustainable and financially responsible way, it is imperative for the municipality to critically examine its existing infrastructure funding model, and assess whether the best practices of other jurisdictions could be successfully applied in our own city for the benefit of existing and future residents.
This report provides an overview of the process and a summary of the Commission’s recommendations. and was written by the Commission’s project team.
Accessible Housing is a non-profit organisation and registered charity, which helps open doors to homes that are both accessible and affordable for people with limited mobility, a growing population with unmet needs in the province of Alberta. Recognising a need in the community for increased mobility-restricted and cost-effective housing, the Accessible Housing Society undertook the development a 45-suite home known as Inclusio. Through the initial design, development and operation of Inclusio, Accessible Housing gained a great deal of knowledge about not only construction design and development but also additionally, how the services provided integrate in the most useful way for residents within the building design. Through a generous grant provided by the Alberta Real Estate Foundation, Accessible Housing has been able to gather this learned information and share the story of Inclusio with many stakeholders.
A study in 2015 found preliminary evidence that in some municipalities in the Calgary region, housing developers are facing challenges when it comes to acquiring licensed water allocations for new housing developments (Nicol & Nicol, 2015). This study explored the issue of water challenges and housing development in more depth. The study focussed on housing development in three of the most water-stressed municipalities in the Calgary region – the municipalities of Rocky View County, M.D. Foothills and the town of Okotoks, and involved personal interviews with 15 housing developers in the region. The study considered four main lines of inquiry: (a) developers’ views of water challenges; (b) the nature and source of the problem; (c) the consequence of water challenges; and (d) solutions. An additional dimension of the study involved a preliminary assessment of the potential impact a decline in housing construction could have on the real estate sector.
