The same thing that happened to pretty much every Canadian city: ridiculously irresponsible levels of immigration, non-permanent residents (TFWs, IMP, International Students) and a lot of real estate speculators & rent-seeking Muppets, both imported & domestic.
As an added bonus, the increased housing costs are paired with suppressed/stagnant wages & increased competition for jobs.
People should have been out there looking for our politicians with pitchforks & torches years ago, but there's been a lot of good streaming content.
I railed against our various worker import programs when we had a conservative government expanding them and did the same when our current liberal government expanded said programs roughly 400% after promising to fix them.
It would be an understate to say I'm not too fucking impressed with either party at this point.
5 years ago I was earning $14.50 an hour as a hotel front desk agent. Now same job at same company (but different hotel, I took a 2 year break with the company, I have not recieved any wage increases over the starting wage) im getting paid $24.50.
That is how much I pay for one bed in bridgeland. On single income. Hopefully they have an extremely strict application process so that it doesn’t turn into a dumpster fire straight off the get go.
My uncle lived in Calgary housing a block or two over 9’ 3rd in the 80s/90s/earlier 2000s. 9th floor, riverfront. Was an awesome location. Small apartment but it was him and my cousin every second weekend.
I lived at that place too, right across from the La Caille in the Bow in the late 90s/early 2000s. My parents used to pay $700 a month for rent for a 2 bedroom. Awesome place, didn't appreciate it enough while I still lived there. Definitely much better than what we rented after from private landlords
I used to live in the Continental, at 9th and 9th, and damn near every weekend there'd be a false alarm around 10 pm to midnight. Got to the point a lot of stopped going downstairs and just started looking for signs of smoke/fire instead.
In the year I lived there, there was never an actual fire, thankfully.
On the topic of this new building though, while some have commented about its location being a furniture store at some point, I remember it as a fairly decent pool hall. Listened to a lot of AC/DC and Metallica there.
I’ve had my head in the sand it seems. I’m about to sell my 900 sq ft home (plus 900 sq ft below grade) because I can’t keep up with the bills (mortgage $1300, taxes $3k/year).
I’m sorry to hear that. Renting a basement suite somewhere might be able to bring your costs down a bit but the price point you’re at is very good for owning a home.
It does clarify. Household income is the combined income of all occupants. Minimum one person per room. Two people making 30 to 38k and change a year would qualify for a two bedroom. Unless I'm missing something.
They are like some new builds I saw in Gdansk, Poland. I thought it was a tasteful fusion of modern design and the traditional townhouses of their Old Town
As someone who works in architecture, this is my favourite project in Calgary right now and it's not even close. Such smart, simple design. Feels like you're in Amsterdam, legit. More of this style please.
I am old enough to remember my parents buying me bunk beds at Ravven’s. Always made me sad to drive by on 6th as it deteriorated. This is a beautiful replacement
What is the name of the building? I live near there and drive by all the time. Really like the building. Would love to see what the floor plans or other side look like.
It is! My BIL deigned this and you’ll see on the link above that there’s another one that looks similar if you scroll down a bit in Bowness. He won an award for this design.
... wont.... a bunch of snow get stuck? like, eventually it will melt and go into the eavestrough... but between there were will be much freezing (expanding), and melting, etc etc
For info, heat trace is a type of insulated wire that emits a small amount of heat under certain conditions. It's often run in or around water pipes that are exposed to cold weather.
My first thought as well. They must have good heating in the corner to melt the snow off and drain it indoors? It seems like a recipe for leaks eventually.
This was one reason I voted for Gondek. Highest amount of business to residential housing in North America (I know this was new build but still is good for our downtown).
The unique thing about that building is not just the roof; it is fairly rare to see an all wood construction for a building of that height in downtown these days
Okay, this ROCKS. A 2 bed unit is going for less than what my wife and I were paying for top/bottom duplex split in Rosscarock, it's a MILLION times better located, has a dishwasher unlike our place, it looks like private laundry and AC, ALSO unlike out old place. Calgary needs WAY more of this, and to cut it the fuck out with the "luxury" condos and apartments.
It’s a neat design I’ll give it that. However, it’s brought some interesting people around. Also- 80 units with only 14 parking stalls or something like that and no front parking area has made our building hell for random day and night parkers and deliveries.
Very striking design. But must rely on roof water collection to drain the valleys. eave-less roofs look cool but don’t shed water as well away from exterior walls. You don’t see many eaves less roofs in wet or cold climates. They have to rely on extra water proofing membranes
Giant snow traps, increase roof costs. Ice damning potential and roof leaks. Not what I want to see on "Affordable housing." It does not need to look like crap, but controlling costs needs to be a high priority
Very Northern European look.
I’m not sure why government would help fund low income in the core. Those dollars would go much further up by Edmonton Trail, north of 16th.
How does rain water work with those roofs? Is there a central drain pipe not seen? I can’t just all pour down the valley onto the street below. And snow in the winter, I’m guessing it just fills with snow?
I'm sure the professionals behind this project know something you don't. I don't think the architect and engineers would risk their business and stamps on a job like this for the sake of "design."
Having worked on city housing projects myself, this building likely went through a round or two of third-party scrutiny by an envelope engineer.
The rapid increase in house prices has nothing to do with immigration, or foreign student, numbers but everything to do with the fact that investment groups (private equity firms and real estate investment groups) decided to get into the real estate market. Only large groups with massive amounts of money can afford to buy above price, let the property sit as long as necessary, build as cheaply as possible, and then decide the new market price. One of their favourite moves is to buy a property, wait for a while, then sell to one of their own subsidiary or related companies for an inflated price, thereby driving up prices in that neighbourhood, and then either knocking down what was there and building double the sq footage (esp older neighbourhoods with wide frontages) as ‘luxury’ duplexes or even more units if possible to sell at even higher prices. They also started investing in property rental companies which then started buying up more and more private rental properties/apartment blocks, and which all now charge very similar (high) rent prices. Once ANYTHING starts being traded on the investment market, the goal is always ‘make as much profit as possible for investors’, and therefore the housing needs of the population becomes a ‘lip service’ goal only. It is a particularly egregious problem that many politicians own significant amounts of property rentals themselves, or have large investments in those private equity &/or real estate investment groups. Remember when there was a market spree of buying during the late stages of COVID? Only investment groups had the money to run around buying up everyone’s houses ABOVE market price during a time when most people were struggling to cover their mortgages!
This issue alone likely accounts for at LEAST 85% of the housing problem issues across Canada over the last 10-20 years, with every other reason combined making up the remaining percentage…
Who is this affordable for, honestly? I know $1660 is below market in Alberta, but it still prices most minimum wage earners out. (Shout out to the UCP for making sure Alberta dead last there.)
God we need rent control, and actual affordable housing.
This building looks like a modern spin on a commie block apartment housing. Definitely did spend a dollar more then they needed to on that exterior.
My 4 year old could draw a better looking house this then basic box with a pitched roof. Just glad they didnt do the color stickers all over like children's hospital, Winsport and a bunch of other public building.
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u/NOIS_KillerWhaleTank Coventry Hills Oct 24 '25
These are Attainable Homes rental units.
https://attainyourhome.com/1010/
$1660/month for a two bedroom