The Town of Canmore has been working to address the need for affordable housing since the early 1990’s. The various committees, studies and initiatives are well documented in the Town of Canmore Affordable and Entry Level Housing Study (2003). The Canmore Community Housing Corporation, formed in 2001, has been coordinating and promoting the development of affordable homeownership in the form of Permanently Affordable Housing (PAH) since its inception. Private sector owners and businesses have supplied the bulk of the rental housing stock.

In March 2008, Canmore Council approved a Terms of Reference for a Comprehensive Housing Action Plan (CHAP) to identify a range of implementable housing policies and actions to meet the community needs for a broad continuum of housing.

The CHAP recommends that stakeholders periodically reconvene to review progress made on the plan priorities and action items and ensure that the desired objectives are being met.  Therefore, stakeholders were reconvened in February and March of 2011 to review and update the CHAP document.  This was felt to be an appropriate time for this review, particularly in recognition of the significant changes in the housing market and economic situation since the initial development of the CHAP.

This revised plan includes an updated list of Action Items intended to produce affordable housing in the Town of Canmore.  The numbers linked to the Action Items are targets that the stakeholders consider possible to achieve in a 3-5 year time frame.  However, they are intended as guides only and not as definitive targets. Actions may result in the targets being exceeded in some areas, but activity in these areas may continue if ongoing monitoring indicates that there is an ongoing, demonstrable community need.  The overall target number of affordable housing units remains at 1000 units to be achieved over a period of 10 years

Comprehensive Housing Action Plan