New Residents Move Into Canmore’s Latest Affordable Housing Development

New owners have begun taking possession at Ptarmigan Pointe, the newest Vital Homes townhouse project from Canmore Community Housing (CCH), the non profit that creates and manages affordable homes for local workers and residents. The development brings 18 below market units to Stewart Creek, which is a small but meaningful addition in a community where hundreds remain on the waitlist for stable, attainable housing.

For Councillor Wade Graham, who toured the development last week, this is not just another ribbon cutting.

“Housing instability is an all too common issue in Canmore,” he said. “How many times have you heard something along the lines of ‘my landlord sold my house and I have to move out of town.’”

Ptarmigan Pointe, he argues, is a small but concrete step in the opposite direction.

“These units allow regular people to put down roots, raise families and retire,” Graham said. “That is incredibly important to the long term viability of Canmore. We cannot be a community of just wealthy people.”

Eighteen homes, hundreds still waiting

Ptarmigan Pointe is a compact project by Canmore standards: eight two bedroom units and ten three bedroom units, built in two townhouse blocks overlooking the Stewart Creek neighbourhood. Unit sizes range from about 829 to 1,709 square feet. 

On paper, the numbers look simple. In practice, demand is anything but.

“Our waitlist is a little over 300 households at the moment for our Vital Homes Ownership program,” said Mark Tkacz, Housing Programs Manager at CCH. He notes that every one of the 18 Ptarmigan Pointe units was sold to someone already on that list.

The goal, Tkacz said, is straightforward: “provide secure below market housing for those that have demonstrated a connection to Canmore either through employment and or long term residency.”

That focus on local connection sits at the heart of CCH’s Vital Homes program, which offers ownership and rental units at below market prices to eligible residents and workers. Resale price formulas and legal agreements are used to keep units affordable over time, rather than letting them drift up to full market value. 

“Anything but the projects”

Graham said one of the most striking parts of his tour was what Ptarmigan Pointe does not look like.

“When some people think of community housing they think of ‘projects’. These are anything but,” he said. “In fact, you cannot tell which homes in this area are CCH houses and which are market. They are modern and cool.”

The townhouses share the same contemporary, vertical form as nearby market units, with warm exterior cladding, covered parking and small shared green spaces. Renderings from CCH show two interior palette options that would not feel out of place in a new market build. 

Utilities are designed to be “near net zero,” Graham noted, which lowers carrying costs in a community where the mortgage is only one part of the monthly housing bill. “Utilities are near net zero which makes them that much more affordable. These are homes people can be truly proud of.”

How prices were pushed down

For many readers, the headline number will be the price. Two bedroom units at Ptarmigan Pointe sold in the mid $400,000 range, while three bedrooms came in somewhere in the $600,000, according to Graham and Tkacz.

“These are as affordable as it gets in the Bow Valley,” Graham said. “These units on the open market would be at least double the price.”

Tkacz said that, as with any Vital Homes ownership development, the goal was to sell units “for as close to cost as possible” because CCH operates as a non profit. The key difference at Ptarmigan Pointe was not cheaper construction or cut rate finishes. It was the land.

“The main factor that contributed to this project being so far under market pricing is that we were able to obtain the land at no cost from the Town of Canmore,” he explained. Construction and labour were tendered out through a standard competitive process, and the project was completed on time and on budget.

“In terms of quality of product, I would hold our units up against any other multi unit project in the area,” Tkacz said.

A different kind of ownership

While buyers at Ptarmigan Pointe will get keys, mortgages and monthly condo fees much like any other owner, the legal structure behind their purchase is different from a standard freehold townhouse.

“These units are not a shared equity project,” Tkacz said. Instead, most Vital Homes owners, including those at Ptarmigan Pointe, acquire their home through a long term leasehold interest on land owned by CCH. The purchase price is essentially a pre payment of a multi decade lease on the unit, with two 25 year renewal options.

On title, each home is also subject to a restrictive covenant and option agreement that lock in several conditions. Owners must use the unit as their permanent and primary residence. CCH retains an option to purchase the unit when the owner chooses to sell. And a resale price formula, typically indexed to inflation, limits how quickly values can rise, keeping the unit below market for the next buyer as well as the first. 

“Our ongoing goal is to keep these units as much below market pricing as possible for future owners as well,” Tkacz said.

Who is moving in

CCH does not publicly identify individual buyers, but Tkacz said the profile at Ptarmigan Pointe is clear.

“I would generally say that we have many families with children of all ages that were able to purchase in this development, and some young professionals that have been working in Canmore for some time and now have a secure place to call their own,” he said. “That is something that we are tremendously proud of.”

Graham sees that mix as a sign the program is hitting its target.

“These units allow regular people to put down long term roots in Canmore,” he said. “The vast majority of market property is out of reach for the average person. $1.6 million for a home is not attainable for most. We need a full spectrum of people who call this place home and make this special place what it is.”

A small project with symbolic weight

In the larger picture, 18 units will not fix Canmore’s housing crisis. Even with Ptarmigan Pointe occupied, more than 300 households remain on the Vital Homes ownership waitlist, and hundreds more are searching in the private market. 

Graham is blunt about the scale of the challenge. “Let us face it, Canmore will always have more demand than we can supply,” he said. “With our limited footprint we need to make the absolute most of the available land we have left. Non market housing will be at the forefront of that battle.”

For Graham, the households moving into Ptarmigan Pointe this week represent the tangible side of those numbers.

“When people have stability in their housing they can be long term contributors to our community and economy,” he said. “This is a win for everyone, including employers.”

And for CCH, the townhouses on Stewart Creek Rise are a proof of concept for a model that tries to balance high construction costs, scarce land and the need to keep the Bow Valley accessible to people who actually live and work here.

“These are homes people can be truly proud of,” Graham said. The challenge now is finding a way to build many more of them.