Alberta is calling again — but some Calgarians are leaving in search of better affordability

After calling Calgary home for 12 years, Will Bonville is being priced out of the city.

His family is growing — which means his housing needs are too — and he can no longer afford Calgary's housing market.

So at the end of the month, he's moving to Edmonton with his husband and three kids, where he was able to buy his ideal home for half the price of what detached houses are going for in Calgary.

"We never thought we would leave Calgary. We love this city," said Bonville. "But we also have to spend significantly more to be able to live here."

Bonville sees the record-high numbers of people moving to Alberta, driving up the cost of housing in Calgary.

"I think we're going to see a lot of native Albertans leaving the province because they won't be able to afford housing," he said.

Alberta is calling, again

On Monday, the Alberta government launched its second Alberta is Calling campaign, piggybacking off the Alberta government campaign in Vancouver and Toronto, launched former Premier Jason Kenney last summer.

This time, it's trying to lure skilled workers from parts of Ontario and Atlantic Canada, including London, Hamilton, Windsor, Sudbury, St. John's, Charlottetown, Moncton, Saint John and Halifax.

The goal is to fill job vacancies in high-demand sectors including skilled trades, health care, accounting, engineering, technology and also in the service and tourism sector.

Bonville says the campaign is good for the province as a whole, and he knows it's working — a number of his coworkers from Toronto are planning to move to Alberta.

But he's worried the province is leaving out the reality of the housing situation in Alberta, and he says its affordability claims may not be as accurate as they were last summer.

"It's changed," said Bonville. "Now that people are starting to come out here and we're seeing a big uptick in the population of Alberta, rental prices have gone up. Housing prices have gone up."

In Calgary, the rental vacancy rate is 2.7 per cent, the lowest it's been since 2014. According to this month's rental report by real estate website Rentals.ca, rent prices for two-bedroom units in Calgary increased by 25 per cent in the last year to $1,920. Limited supply of homes for sale has also contributed to price increases.

The situation is different in Edmonton, where the rental vacancy rate is 4.3 per cent, with rent prices for two-bedrooms sitting at $1,417. But that's still a 10 per cent increase from the previous year.

Compared to Vancouver and Toronto, where rents for two-bedrooms are $3,632 and $3,314 respectively, anywhere in Alberta will be significantly more affordable. But for people coming from smaller cities?

"You're not going to save a whole lot of money," Bonville said. "You're going to find it's probably going to be just as expensive here as it is in Ontario or rural B.C."

No sense of security

That was a hard reality Scott Fitch learned when he and his wife moved to Edmonton, and eventually Calgary, from Vancouver in 2017.

While rent is cheaper, he says he's paying much more for utilities, car insurance and groceries — and that all adds up.

"Our experience is that it's at least equal, if not a touch more, to live here with the same quality of life," said Fitch.

There is inflation to blame. Since he's lived in Vancouver, the price of just about everything has risen across the country, which could contribute to the increased costs.

But what really made Fitch question if he'll stay in Alberta is the rent increases — and the lack of rent control.

Last month, his landlord told him he was planning to raise his rent by $700 when the lease renews in August. When he lived in Edmonton, he faced a $500 increase.

"It just doesn't seem right to me that there's no course of action for the renter, or some sense of security," said Fitch. 

"We want to lay down roots here, but something like that makes it virtually impossible."

In British Columbia, where he lived for 13 years, the maximum rent increase for this year is 1.5 per cent. It allowed him to live in the same place for most of that time, whereas he's moved five times in the five years he's been in Alberta to find cheaper prices.

"If we don't have any sort of way to be able to control our finances and have some sort of say in it, you feel like you're spinning your wheels. You're not getting ahead. You're, in fact, falling behind."

After a month of negotiation, Fitch's landlord eventually agreed to lower the increase to $250 a month. 

But still, he's considering moving back to B.C. — maybe not Vancouver, but somewhere more affordable like the Okanagan — where at least he knows how much he'll be paying for rent the next year.

"In all cases, we lose."

For Bonville, who's packing up the house before his three-hour road trip to his new home in Edmonton, he's worried about the future of affordability in Calgary.

"We're going to become another Toronto or another Vancouver if we're not careful."