Calgary awards two city sites for affordable housing, about 200 homes expected

The City of Calgary announced on October 27 that it has awarded two city-owned sites under the fifth round of its Non-Market Housing Land Sale (NMLS) program to Liberty Housing Organization and Siksika Off-Reserve Affordable Housing (SORAH), expected to deliver about 200 below-market homes combined, with a $3.9 million land value contribution from the city.

The two sites

The first site, at 155 Cirrus Close NE, goes to Liberty Housing Organization for 105 homes at Midfield Heights. The second, at 3010 36 Street SE, goes to SORAH for about 95 homes in Dover, mostly townhomes, for urban Indigenous Calgarians. The city says each dollar of city land value has leveraged nearly $4.50 from provincial and federal partners. Both providers must now complete due diligence and satisfy pre-sale conditions, including land use amendments where applicable and development permit approvals.

Progress and the gap

Since 2019, the NMLS program has enabled nearly 1,000 perpetually affordable homes across 18 developments, of which 280 have opened and more than 700 are in planning or construction. A third site in this round, at 15 Santana HL NW, was not awarded because applications did not meet program requirements, and will be offered in a future round. Mayor Jeromy Farkas said removing land cost takes away one of the largest barriers facing non-profit housing providers. Chief Housing Officer Reid Hendry acknowledged the city is still not on track for its target of 3,000 new below-market homes a year: about 1,800 such units received development permits in 2025, five times Calgary's historic average but about 1,200 short of the target.