The Rural Development Network’s Sustainable Housing Initiative’s (RDN SHI) Enabling Housing Choice project has scaled to partnerships with six municipalities in Alberta.

The Enabling Housing Choice project seeks to:

• To identify policy recommendations that increase housing choice in Alberta municipalities.
• To meaningfully engage with community members to best understand each communities’ housing needs.
• To consult with development industry professionals and attract housing development to the municipality.

So far, the RDN SHI is partnering with the following municipalities to develop Land Use Policy update reports with recommendations to increase housing choice:

• Airdrie
• Bow Island
• Claresholm
• Mayerthorpe
• Pincher Creek
• Trochu

We are thrilled to see RDN SHI scale this project and work directly with communities to build capacity and drive the policy changes needed to improve housing choice. We heard that housing affordability, housing sustainability, and the unique issues of rural living are top of mind for many of our stakeholders.

Read the Bow Island What We Heard Report and accompanying Land Use Study to learn about the engagement process and recommendations.

The Foundation funded this project in 2021 as part of our 30th Anniversary Legacy Grant Program. This one-time program celebrates our thirty years of service to the province by investing in projects that will bring transformational and long-term change for the real estate industry in the new and emerging world that fosters healthy, vibrant communities across Alberta.

Photo from the Bow Island Land Use Study Report.