Housing Action

The Town of Banff is in a housing crisis. The town has not grown in area since incorporation. In fact, the town shrunk in the late 1990s to prevent growth into a wildlife corridor. The town is less than 4 square kilometres in area and almost all land designated for residential development already has housing.

The community saw an increase in population in the 1990s and 2000s when some commercial properties transitioned from retail to restaurant operations, which require more employees who need more housing. Banff has been operating at a housing deficit for decades.

Even with a commercial cap set for the town, the current housing shortage persists. The greatest impact is on about 40% of the population who are short-term workers who provide much-needed services in the tourist community for periods from three months to three years. Growing families who established roots in Banff a few years ago and young adults of long-time residents are also significantly affected.

Currently, there is less than 1% vacancy in rental dwellings in Banff.
Banff has a shortage of 700-1,000 homes.

All land that can be developed has development or is earmarked for development. All future housing will require redevelopment and increased density.

Housing Action to address the crisis

The Town of Banff is working on six main ways to stimulate more housing in Banff. The goal is to address the housing shortage by building Town-financed housing, changing regulations that will accelerate private development, adding incentives for new homes, and addressing the demand for new housing and commercial expansion.

1. Town-led Housing Projects

The Town is looking at several potential parcels where it could build housing over the next decade, building on the success of the Town’s Tinu Apartments and the Aster condominiums.

Housing must be built at a cost that would allow the Town to pass on savings for below-market apartments to rent or units for purchase. If site development costs – such as utility connections, roadways and slope management – push the overall cost too high to offer below-market units, the Town will change the priority order of development.

The Town is also advocating for funding from the Province of Alberta and land from the federal government to subsidize housing costs, as occurred with the Tinu Apartments.

The newest affordable housing project being built by the Town of Banff is the Wolf Street Housing project.

Parcels under exploration for Town-led projects over the next decade include:

Park Avenue site – south of Parks Canada Admin building
Cave Avenue
Marmot Park – northwest of Marmot Crescent
Tatanga Ridge Benchlands - 650 Banff Ave, north of Canoe Hotel

2. Changing Land Use Bylaws to allow more housing density

The Town has changed the Land Use Bylaw, which sets rules and regulations for how new development or redevelopment occurs. The changes are aimed at allowing greater housing density, which should gradually create more housing units. The changes are:

A) Remove Parking Requirement – This change would remove the requirement for new housing developments, including adding dwelling units to existing homes, to include parking within their site. Developers and property owners will determine the amount of parking to meet the demand of their future residents.

Previously, the Land Use Bylaw required that a minimum number of on-site parking stalls be provided for all housing developments. This parking requirement is the main limiting factor for those who want to add additional rental suites (accessory dwellings) to their property.

The changes to remove on-site parking requirements means that anyone building new homes or adding a rental suite to their home can provide as much, or as little, on-site vehicle parking as they deem suitable for tenants. When on-site parking is provided, it would still have to meet the design requirements for size and location of the stalls.

B) Increase allowable size to building requirements

A number of changes allow bigger residential buildings to be built to provide more housing. Each of the town’s 23 residential areas (Land Use Districts) have been categorized as either higher-density, medium-density or lower-density districts and have regulations to match. The changes to the regulations include:

Increase Height Allowances – This change increases the allotted height for each district to allow more space for housing. Previously, maximum residential building height varies between 8 metres and 11.5 metres depending on district (measured from the ground to the middle of a building’s roof). The changes now allow:

Setback Requirements and Landscaping – the changes reduce the distance a new residential development or redevelopment needs to build from the public road and the neighbouring lots (property lines). The changes also focus on the minimum area of a lot that must be landscaped.

Maximizing Floor Area Ratio – Floor Area Ratio is the total floor area across all floors of a building/buildings on a site. Floor Area Ratio is calculated by dividing the gross floor area by total site area. The recent changes increase the total floor area that can be built on a site in all residential areas in Banff. This is done on a sliding scale where more floor area can be built when more homes are proposed.

The changes also remove a minimum and maximum size that a residence could be. This will increase the flexibility in design, while maintaining provincial building code requirements for minimum areas.

C) Simplified Housing Types Allowed in More Areas – The changes simplify the definitions of different residential housing types and define which housing types are allowed in the lower-, medium-, or higher-density areas.

These residential uses are either permitted (allowed by right), discretionary (allowed in suitable situations), or not allowed. The boundaries of some residential areas are also proposed to change to allow the higher density areas where they are closer to essential services, employment and transit.

The Town provided opportunities for residents to learn about these changes and provide input. Banff Town Council also held a Public Hearing on June 10, 2024, before implementing changes. Learn more at BanffViewpoints.ca/HousingAction

These changes will be gradual and more than 90% of residents living in Banff will see only minor changes. Since the average lifespan of a house is approximately 50 years, then redevelopment of a site can reasonably be said to occur once every 50 years. Change will not be instantaneous. For example, looking at the last decade, there were only a total of 30 new dwelling units created per year, and that includes the Town’s new apartment buildings.

The Town will continue to apply its strict Banff Design Guidelines to all new housing redevelopment, to ensure our community character is upheld.

3. Changing Banff’s Housing Policy

While the Land Use Bylaw dictates how housing can be developed, the Housing Policy outlines how housing needs can be met. The two main changes to Housing Policy C3002 are the following:

If a net new bedroom is required as per commercial, government, or institutional intensification, that net-new bedroom needs to be built in a net-new dwelling unit. The previous policy allowed for new bedrooms to be added to existing dwelling units in town. Ensuring that required housing translates into new units as opposed to bedrooms in existing units, will better address the housing shortfall in town and better address the intent of the Housing Policy.
The previous policy allowed for commercial, government, or institutional intensification to purchase bedroom credits from housing projects that were adding net new bedrooms to town. A review of the past 7 years of bedroom credit purchases revealed that this option most often connected those with a housing requirement need, with those who were already developing net new dwelling units (as opposed to instigating new dwelling units to be built). The updated Housing Policy C3002 removes the option to purchase bedroom credits from a third party who is developing new bedrooms. Those commercial, government, or institutional projects who have a housing requirement have two remaining options:

build net new dwelling units
pay the cash-in-lieu fee to the Housing Reserve (a reserve used for advancing housing in the community, recent benefitting projects include The Aster and Ti’nu)

Housing demand study

Housing requirements are established in the Land Use Bylaw. When commercial, government, or institutional intensification occurs, the Land Use Bylaw dictates the amount of housing that must be built or paid for in cash-in-lieu to the town to be directed to the Housing Reserve. The town is about to embark on a housing ratio study, to ensure that the number of bedrooms required with each commercial, government, or institutional use is correct. We expect the results of that study in the summer of 2024, at which point Council may wish to use that information to update the Land Use Bylaw requirements and reconsider the current cash-in-lieu of housing rate.

4. Incentives for homeowners to add rental suites in their homes

The Town has approved an Accessory Dwelling Unit Incentive Program. This will provide financial support to homeowners who would like to develop a legal rental suite within their property.

This program will develop information documents and a streamlined process to help homeowners understand where they can add dwellings (e.g. in the yard, attached to garage, contained suite in existing house), what is required, and grants and fee-waivers that will be available.

5. Increasing Taxation on Vacant Land

The Town of Banff is creating a new taxation class for vacant land with a higher tax rate to motivate the property owner to develop housing. Some vacant properties are considered speculation properties, where owners keep the land vacant, waiting for increase in potential sale price. With no new land available for development, the Town wants to implement financial tools to stimulate housing development.

The Town is also exploring creating a special taxation class for underutilized properties that could be subdivided or further developed with new housing dwellings.

Banff Town Council also reduced the fee for residential building permits and is examining how to reduce the fees for subdividing properties to allow more housing development.

6. Faster permitting and planning support to accelerate private housing development

This project will introduce an e-permitting solution to streamline application and processing for housing development. The Town is adding resources to support private housing redevelopment.

Housing Accelerator Fund

On February 19, 2024, the Government of Canada announced $4.66 million in support to Banff through the Housing Accelerator Fund. The funding serves as a catalyst for Town-led housing projects, incentives for homeowners, and resources to speed up the development permit process for private construction. The process will produce at least 240 new housing units by 2027.

Details are available on the news release

Council Reports

Community Housing Strategy

In October 2014, Banff town council adopted the Community Housing Strategy. The document recommends many actions be taken over the next several years to help address housing issues in the community. Some actions are already underway, and can be reviewed in the full document.

Federal Census 2021 Statistics on Housing in Banff

Housing affordability metric:

Census year	Percent of households that spent 30% or more of income on shelter costs
2016	29.0
2021	26.2

Overcrowding metric (enough bedrooms)

Census year	Percent of households in unsuitable housing
2016	11.6
2021	9.0

Condition of housing (major repairs needed)

Census year	Percent of households in inadequate housing
2016	5.3
2021	3.1