Residential
Housing, Affordability, Availability, Zoning.
Updated: October 15, 2025
|
Making Renting in Red Deer More Transparent
The City of Red Deer cannot control how much landlords charge for rent—that’s set by Alberta’s Residential Tenancies Act. Rent control is provincial law, so the city has no authority to set prices. However, the city can make renting more fair and transparent. One idea is a voluntary rental registry where landlords list each of their properties. This could include: - Current rent charged - Average rent for similar units - Whether units are available or empty For example, while the city reports a 1.6% vacancy rate, my building was 33% empty for months. Accurate reporting is essential. Landlords or property managers who don’t provide their information should still be listed, with a clear note that they have not reported and are not being transparent. When tenants and the public can see this information, it can help make rents more reasonable. Landlords may be less likely to overcharge if everyone can compare prices and see real vacancies. The city can also: - Ensure rental units are safe and well-maintained through inspections - Educate tenants and landlords about their rights and responsibilities - Share public reports about landlords who ignore rules or maintenance standards - Recognize responsible landlords to encourage better practices By collecting and sharing this information in one place, the city can increase transparency and accountability in the rental market—all while staying within the law.
0 Comments
How do we know that landlords and property management companies are reporting accurate vacancy numbers when a lower percentage of availability can net them higher rental rates?
Why isn't this done on a public website reporting system where landlords and property management companies are required to report: the number of units they have in a building, how many are available, the average rent of rented units, and their current unit listing is. Data would be accumulative, meaning that a reader could look back over several months or years to see the changes for an individual property. They should have to register with this service, and be held accountable to report a snapshot of all of their rental properties four times per year. It's hard to accept an average rental availability of only 1.6%, when for several months 25% of the building I live in was vacant. I believe that completing the survey with CMHC is also voluntary and not mandatory by law. Why is it we can count the number of homeless in our community but we can't keep track of the number of available homes with any amount of public transparency? If we are truly going to combat unreasonable rental rates, lack of affordable housing, availability of housing, development of new housing based on lack of availability, and homelessness then changes need to be made to how rental units are documented and tracked in our city. I don’t oppose an 8-plex on a parcel like the one next to the MLA office at Gaetz and 59th. But blanket zoning everything within 800m of a primary—and eventually secondary—transit corridor is reckless and poorly planned. As Gareth has pointed out—and I agree—we already have prime areas for redevelopment, like Capstone, Michener, and the old railyards. I also support mixed-use buildings—shops on the ground floor with apartments above—like the westernmost building in Capstone. Our downtown could evolve in that direction. This is the first city I’ve seen where so many downtown shops are single-storey with no residential or service space above. There’s real opportunity—not necessarily on Ross Street, but across Red Deer—for us to build up instead of out. And that doesn’t mean placing 8-plexes in the middle of single-family neighborhoods either.
UPDATE FROM COUNCILLOR CHAD KRAHN JULY 22, 2025 Today City Council voted unanimously to let the federal government know that we will not be implementing "Four Units as a Right", aka blanket rezoning, in Red Deer. This was the primary new requirement of the Housing Accelerator Fund Round 2 that has created so much attention in our community. Housing remains a significant challenge in Red Deer, but we are going to need made in Red Deer solutions, not made in Ottawa mandates. The next steps will be interesting. We will let the federal government know that we will not be implementing Four Units as a Right but we will also let them know that we could fulfill all of the housing targets set out in the grant without implementing blanket rezoning. With continued advocacy, there is still a small chance that Red Deer will be allowed to retain some or all of the grant money to work on housing challenges in our community. Stay tuned for updates!  Question: Do you support the Federal initiative to change bylaws and allow for four-plex as right, removing zoning to allow construction anywhere in the city without many restrictions on the footprint? Answer: Why is this necessary when there's so much vacant land already available that should be prioritized for development? Every area marked on this local map has sat empty for over two years—and these represent less than 5% of the city's current footprint. I don’t see why some of these can’t be used for modular housing, even up to 8-plexes in a few cases. Yet the city’s pushing to squeeze 4-plexes into people’s backyards instead? These lots already have the infrastructure to support development—several are zoned residential, and at least one has been listed for sale for over two years. It starts with a tiny home, then a 4-plex, then an 8-plex. When you remove existing bylaws that preserve low density you create the possibility for high density on top of an infrastructure that can not support it.  Question: "Renters don't have a vested interest in the community, they are just transients and not homeowners!"
Answer: "I don't like hearing people say renters don’t pay taxes-because we absolutely do. I did rough calculation for my building & about $80 of my monthly rent goes toward property taxes. I’m still paying for property tax, water, sewer, & more-just not directly like a homeowner does. Many renters work in the community, they shop in local stores, their kids go to local schools, they attend local churches and donate to local charities. Many renters would be home owners if they could afford to be. The fact they rent does not mean they are not invested in the community in other ways." |