The city’s non-market land disposition program sells surplus municipal land at book value, instead of market value, to below-market housing operators, helping reduce their overall project costs.<\/p>\n
“The need for affordable housing in our city is greater than ever,” Mayor Jeromy Farkas said in a city news release. “Offering city-owned land to select providers at below-market value helps to remove land cost, which is one of the largest barriers facing non-profit housing providers, and helps us to provide more homes for Calgarians.”<\/p>\n
![\"Construction](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/calgary_herald_articles_312\/3d9996b3a6968a21d78032c72cb7f21e.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n
Construction at Midfield Heights as the City of Calgary envisions another 105 homes in the area by awarding two sites approved for disposition under the fifth Non-Market Housing Land Sale (NMLS) Program to affordable housing providers Liberty Housing Organization and Siksika Off-Reserve Affordable Housing (SORAH) in Calgary on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
City building below-market homes, but not on track towards goal of 3,000 annually<\/p>\n
The city’s chief housing officer, Reid Hendry, said that each dollar of municipal land value it has disposed of has leveraged nearly $4.50 from provincial and federal governments.<\/p>\n
For the two projects included in this round of the program, he said the land value contribution is $3.9 million.<\/p>\n
To date, the program has assisted 19 different developments<\/a>, enabling the construction of more than 1,000 below-market homes.<\/p>\n “It provides land certainty and really importantly equity for these affordable housing providers, so they can get their projects started right away,” Hendry said.<\/p>\n “For the city, who is quite a large landholder, to be able to contribute surplus sites for great affordable housing projects is something that we have seen to be a great success.”<\/p>\n However, Hendry said the city is still not on track to reach its target of building 3,000 new, below-market homes annually \u2014 a goal set out in the city’s 2023 housing strategy, which council approved a refresh for earlier this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 2025, the city approved development permits for a little more than 1,800 below-market housing units \u2014 five times Calgary’s historic average, but still 1,200 units below the housing strategy’s target.<\/p>\n “Non-market housing does not create itself,” Hendry said. “Part of what we’re here to talk about today is how land equity can help create housing. Capital contributions can help create housing, and so this year we will not hit 3,000 non-market homes, but we are continuing to lean in.”<\/p>\n Construction at Midfield Heights as the City of Calgary envisions another 105 homes in the area by awarding two sites approved for disposition under the fifth Non-Market Housing Land Sale (NMLS) Program to affordable housing providers Liberty Housing Organization and Siksika Off-Reserve Affordable Housing (SORAH) in Calgary on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026.<\/p>\n While a third address was also included in the fifth round of the program \u2014 15 Santana Hl. N.W., in Sandstone Valley \u2014 Hendry said the applications it received did not meet the program’s requirements.<\/p>\n He said the site could be included in a future round of the program.<\/p>\n![\"Construction](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/calgary_herald_articles_312\/74d0098af28405df0ac619768f1aa8cd.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n