Calgary is battling illegal basement suites. But homeowners say legalizing them is too hard

Upgrade her basement suite, get help paying the mortgage and provide a renter a home. For Dawn, it was a win-win — a solution to Calgary's ongoing housing issues.

Until she learned it would cost her up to $70,000 to make her finished basement legal.

"I never thought in my wildest dreams that conversion would be so complicated and costly," said Dawn, whose last name CBC Calgary has agreed not to use.

"I'm just in a very large house because I planned on [creating a suite] and I simply can't do that.… There's all these rental issues and I can't do anything and it sucks."

The City of Calgary is continuing to battle illegal basement suites. There are 8,846 registered secondary suites — but the city says there are many more illegal ones.

And amid Calgary's tight rental market that's expected to get worse, many homeowners say the unreasonably difficult and costly process of creating or upgrading a legal basement suite is preventing them from being a practical, affordable housing option. 

Dawn decided not to move forward with legalizing the suite but is looking at renting it out anyway to help others who need a home. And she isn't the only one.

When CBC Calgary asked community members about basement suites, several said the city should reduce the regulations that stop people from completing the legalization process — including a second furnace, a separate entrance and extra parking.

Some said they'd rather rent out their illegal suite than deal with the process and cost of legalization. Others were frustrated that a family member or friend could legally live in their basement as is, but it would be considered illegal if a tenant moved in.

'Unmanageable as a business,' says Calgary contractor

Bo Fric has specialized in Calgary basement developments since 2011, when he started his company, Reimagine Builders. But in 2017, he stopped taking on basement suite projects completely.

With personal basement developments, Fric says the company gets one job for every three potential clients asking for a price quote.

"But we were finding that we would get a job for one out of 70, out of 80, basement suites that we did because clients were so shocked at the pricing," said Fric.

He says that's a slight exaggeration, but it's still a dramatic difference — especially when it takes approximately five hours to give a quote for each suite.

"It just became totally unmanageable as a business," he said. "We were just burning way too much money quoting these jobs."

Fric says the city's permit process is "long, it's unpredictable, it's challenging," which is another barrier people face.

Dawn says of the six contractors she reached out to, three of them outright refused to take on the job because of city regulations.

For Solid Solutions in Calgary, president Andrew Leslie says about five per cent of clients move forward with suite development after they learn about the process and cost. Depending on the space and products, he says it usually costs around $100,000.

Still, Leslie says he doesn't think it's necessary for the city to ease up regulations or make the process easier.

"I think that a lot of it is just understanding the safety requirements that the [Alberta Building Code] is trying to put in place to help the surrounding neighbours," he said.

"When you develop a secondary suite, you're not only affecting your home — but you're affecting all the neighbourhood around you by inviting that many more vehicles in there."

Process to get more expensive, difficult in 2024

Cliff de Jong, manager of building safety and inspection services with the City of Calgary, agrees there are challenges that come with legalizing a suite. But he says all regulations are put in place to keep Calgarians safe.

"A registered suite is a safe suite," said de Jong. 

Come 2024, however, the process is only going to get harder.

"Most definitely, it's never going to be easier or cheaper, actually, than today," de Jong said.

The city's amnesty program, which runs until the end of 2023, was created to take pressure off homeowners who want to legalize existing secondary suites that were built before March 2018, he says.

Any suites built after aren't eligible for the program.

Under the program, homeowners need to only meet what's considered basic safety code requirements, until December 2023.

"Suite owners must provide all bedrooms with a window exit, interconnected smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, a protected exit route from the basement to outside, drywall barriers between suites and drywall barriers in the mechanical room to meet the safety code requirements," said a release by the city.

According to de Jong, the amnesty program can save Calgarians about $20,000 in construction costs. It also cuts fees for development permits and secondary suite registration by up to $700.

When the program is over, de Jong says it could be an opportunity for the city to revisit its subsidy program from over a decade ago, which offered up to $25,000 to create or upgrade secondary suites under certain eligibility — but it wasn't very successful.

"If there were a subsidy program, it would probably be best placed in 2024, and you could gear it toward affordable housing, just like they did in 2009."

Finding Home

This fall, CBC Calgary has been asking Calgarians about housing. What has been your experience in this market, and are there solutions you'd like to see a reporter dig into? 

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