Calgary’s rental supply can’t keep up with skyrocketing demand

As we get ready to turn the calendar over to a new page, the current rental situation in Calgary remains dire.

Prices for one and two-bedroom rentals in the city remain staggeringly high compared to last year.

According to the latest rental report from Rentals.ca, it costs — on average — a little over $1,700 for a one-bedroom and over $2,100 for a two-bedroom in Calgary.

Giacomo Ladas with the website says the price only paints a little bit of the picture, as the yearly increase is much more staggering.

“Calgary was the largest market that we saw having the fastest growth — a year-over-year increase of 17 per cent,” he told CityNews. “We really need to see an influx in supply because the demand is so high right now. Until that happens people are going to be changing the way they live, how they look for homes. And that’s what we’re seeing right now.”

He adds that there doesn’t appear to be any relief in the near future.

“The demand is really tightening down the rental market and now we have all this inter-provincial migration which only adds more strain to the rental market in Calgary,” Ladas said.

The vacancy rate is lower than three per cent at the moment, making for a challenging atmosphere to find a place.

Recent videos online show huge lines of people, all competing with one another at open houses across the city.

The city has recognized housing affordability as a serious problem.

Related stories:

• Calgary’s affordable housing issue decades in the making

• Calgary single moms come together to find rental housing 

• From living in a garage to a tent: Calgarians continue to struggle to find affordable housing 

Ward 9 Coun. Gian Carlo Carra says there is a lot on the line with for council in addressing the issue.

“Whether we have the political wherewithal or leadership to actually enact what the experts are telling us we need to enact, remains to be seen,” he said.

He adds that he knows something has to be done.

“We have to make significant, lasting moves if we want to accommodate the diversifying economy that we’re building, if we want to have this influx of people be a net-positive for everyone, for people who are flocking to our city in droves,” Carra said.

Ladas says the city’s current rental situation is unlike anything seen here before.

“The vacancy rate is 2.7 percent right now in Calgary and, just for some context, in 2021 so just two years ago, the vacancy rate was 5.1 per cent,” he explained. “So, it’s decreased by half in just about two years.

“The supply and demand issue — there’s just not enough supply for the demand we’re seeing. The landscape is very much different now than it was in 2021.”

As demand continues to grow, Carra is adamant that a significant increase in the housing supply is needed.

“I think has council has very much acknowledged that we have a housing crisis,” he said.

On Sept. 14, the refreshed housing strategy will be presented for approval at the community development committee meeting.

WATCH: Alberta’s Indigenous renters impacted more by high rent prices: report

A list of recommendations will be discussed, including making it easier to build housing around Calgary, and looking at rental models, sharing them with the provincial government.

The affordable housing recommendations were first brought to council in June and denied, drawing criticism from some at the table, including Ward 11 Coun. Kourtney Penner who, at the time, called the outcome “awful.”

Calgary-Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel Garner called the decision to vote down the six recommendations embarrassing,” “unacceptable,” and “ridiculous.”

In a matter of hours, council reversed course, voting 14-1 to accept the advice of the Housing and Affordability Task Force.

Mayor Jyoti Gondek said following that decision, the city had a “clear path forward.”

The Calgary Housing Company (CHC) administers rental and rent supplement programs on behalf of the City of Calgary and the Province of Alberta.

It manages housing for almost 10,000 households, according to the CHC website. About 25,000 Calgarians, including 10,000 children, live in a property managed by CHC.

As of August 2023, more than 5,300 households are on the CHC waitlist, which is priority-based, not time-based.

The number of applications for CHC housing has risen steadily over the past 18 months, the organization says.

Over that time, an average of 478 applications were received each month.

–With files from Lauryn Heintz, Tiffany Goodwein, and Hana Mae Nassar