City mulls rezoning ex-Edmonton school surplus sites for housing projects

Surplus land in an Edmonton neighbourhood. (CTV News Edmonton)

Edmonton city council is taking steps to allow more subsidized and supportive housing to be built on land it owns.

Twenty parcels of land had been earmarked for schools, but about 15 years ago, the Edmonton Public School Board determined those parcels were no longer required and gave them back to the city.

City council later designated 14 of those sites for affordable housing.

Not much development has occurred on them until now.

At Monday's meeting, city council is considering rezoning seven of those green spaces to allow housing projects.

"We need more homes, we need more affordable homes, we need more supportive homes in every community in our city, and that is something that Edmontonians have prioritized and we need to continue to deliver on that," Mayor Amarjeet Sohi said.

A federal housing program is now providing enough money for affordable housing projects to make financial sense on the surplus school sites.

If rezoning is approved, city staff expect the new homes could be occupied by 2028.

City council declared a housing emergency in January.

With files from CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson