Building Affordable Rental Housing with Private Developers - The Case of Calgary and Edmonton

Beswick, Carol-Ann

Building Affordable Rental Housing with Private Developers - The Case of Calgary and Edmonton

dc.contributor.advisor	Tsenkova, Sasha
dc.contributor.author	Beswick, Carol-Ann
dc.contributor.committeemember	Hiller, Harry Herbert
dc.contributor.committeemember	Waters, Nigel Michael
dc.contributor.committeemember	Neuhaus, Fabian
dc.contributor.committeemember	Moos, Markus
dc.date	2025-02
dc.date.accessioned	2025-01-02T23:05:33Z
dc.date.available	2025-01-02T23:05:33Z
dc.date.issued	2024-12
dc.description.abstract	Developing affordable rental housing in transit-oriented developments (TODs) reduces household costs and promotes the equitable inclusion of low-income groups in Canadian cities. While this is a priority strategy to address the housing crisis, private developers have limited engagement in affordable rental housing provision due to high costs and risks. This qualitative research provides a framework for evaluation of a multi-sector partnership model that evaluates the interaction of five factors - economic, regulatory, TOD structural, advocacy and institutional - multi-sector partnerships. Simon’s theory of satisficing is used to establish a Developer Influence Matrix (DIM) of decision-making by private developers in these partnerships, considering efficiency, profit, and risk management criteria. The DIM measures the influence of the five factors on the decision-making of the private developer and potential success for a project. In essence, private developers are motivated by profit, the return on investment and ability to manage risks, and if that is achievable through a combination of housing policy instruments and an enabling environment the decision to participate increases. TODs are a complex real estate development area, with high risks and high costs affecting profits. This comparative analysis of six case study projects in Calgary and Edmonton, used ethnographic methods, focus groups and interviews. Calgary and Edmonton have limited policy tools available to entice multi-sector partnerships and have resulted in limited responses, which was a challenge for this exploratory research. A major finding was that multi-sector partnerships brought economic support through public grants, which was a key incentive for the private developers. In addition, regulatory support through fast-tracking applications with designated staff, parking relaxations, and advocacy, reduced some risks and established a satisficing environment for private developers. The study found that mixed-market housing models and operating subsidies made projects viable and sustainable, and that private developers prefer below-market affordable rental housing, over other types of affordable rental housing. Multi-sector partnerships positively influenced the other factors and created satisfactory conditions and profits for effective involvement by private developers, however, additional tools could cultivate multi-sector partnerships. The study concludes with recommendations to incentivises private developers to participate in partnerships to deliver affordable rental housing at TODs. The contribution of the DIM provides a simple checklist that municipalities can use to measure the level of influence an incentive-based approach has with attracting private developers to partner and increase the supply of below-market affordable rental housing at TODs.
dc.identifier.citation	Beswick, C. (2025). Building affordable rental housing with private developers - the case of Calgary and Edmonton (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/1880/120342
dc.language.iso	en
dc.publisher.faculty	Graduate Studies
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.
dc.subject	Affordable Rental Housing
dc.subject	Transit-Oriented Developments
dc.subject	Private Developers
dc.subject	Multi-Sector Partnerships
dc.subject	Satisficing
dc.subject	Housing Policy
dc.subject	Mixed-Market Housing
dc.subject.classification	Urban and Regional Planning
dc.title	Building Affordable Rental Housing with Private Developers - The Case of Calgary and Edmonton
dc.type	doctoral thesis
thesis.degree.discipline	Environmental Design
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary
thesis.degree.name	Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
ucalgary.thesis.accesssetbystudent	I do not require a thesis withhold – my thesis will have open access and can be viewed and downloaded publicly as soon as possible.