With Alberta’s population continuing to climb, more and more families and individuals are seeking temporary and permanent shelter in communities large and small, urban and rural.
In response, governments are all levels are working with industry, developers and other stakeholders to address the housing crunch, including in communities across Central Alberta.
In a new undertaking aimed at getting more houses, apartments and condos built, the Smith government has announced an initiative called ‘Stop Housing Delays’ that it says will speed construction and remove unreasonable barriers.
Under the initiative, an online portal is being created to allow developers and others to report areas where they believe delays are being created.
Once the submissions are made, the government will assess the data and then “take a collaborative, cross-ministry approach to ensure the appropriate departments are working together to find solutions where possible,” says Jason Nixon, Sundre-area MLA and minister of Seniors, Community and Social Services.
“This will help identify and remove barriers, ultimately getting homes built faster and continuing Alberta’s record home-building pace. Solutions may range from minor changes to policy reform.”
Dale Nally, minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction, added, “This webpage is an excellent opportunity to gather knowledge and further eliminate red tape. Government has been persistent in our approach of cutting red tape and removing roadblocks, and this will help to speed up residential construction.”
The need for more and more housing as the province’s population continues to grow is obvious to everyone. As such, efforts to increase the housing supply in urban and rural communities are welcome.
However, those efforts must not come at the expense of safety for the workers building the homes, support for municipalities conducting and overseeing the approval processes, or the well-being of the families living in the new residences.
This new online portal initiative will be a good step for Alberta – as long as it doesn’t lead to the cutting of the safeguards needed to ensure development is done correctly.
Dan Singleton is an editor with the Albertan.
