A Calgary city council is looking for a permanent site to accommodate people living in their recreational vehicles, after a group of RVs were forced to move out of a northeast industrial park last month.
Ward 10 Coun. Andre Chabot plans to introduce a motion at next week’s Executive Committee meeting to direct administration to look into “alternative off-street locations” for people living in RVs.
Chabot’s motion asks for a scoping report to determine the steps required to designate and rezone a permanent site, as well as outline public engagement, capital upgrades, safety considerations and financing options to create one or multiple sites for RV dwellers.
“I’m hoping we can find a site that we can, even if it’s just a temporary site, to provide a place where those folks can live with dignity, have access to electricity, potable water, a place to dump sanitary water and the like, and in a cost-effective manner,” Chabot told Global News.
Several of the motorhome owners say they had been living along Moraine Road N.E. for more than a decade before the city of Calgary forced them to move.
Tim Lee / Global News
His motion also directs city administration to look into how to find an “interested third party organization” to manage and operate one or multiple sites.
“Obviously, it’s not something that we want to run as a city — there should be a cost associated with it,” added Chabot. “It can’t be a free for all. There needs to be some cost recovery mechanism.”
“I think most of the residents that are there would be willing to pay like 30 per cent of their income — but many of them are on a fixed and very low income and can’t afford to live in a regular RV park,” said Chabot. “We can’t put them in homes. There’s a shortage of non-market housing out there right now. Calgary Housing has got a long waiting lists.”
Calgary city councilor Andre Chabot says the city needs to help the former Moraine Road residents find a permanent place where they can live with dignity, have access to electricity, potable water and a place to dump sanitary water and he thinks most of them would likely be willing to pay about 30 per cent of their income.
Global News
Last month, city crews along with Calgary Police and tow trucks removed nine trailers and RVs that had been set up along Moraine Road N.E.
Several of those motorhomes had been in that location for up to a decade before the issue came to a head with the City of Calgary last fall.
Residents along the street cited the cost of housing in Calgary as the main reasons they live in their motorhomes in the area.
City officials said at the time local businesses and residents filed roughly 70 complaints mostly due to access and security on the road.
On Dec. 1, 2024, the city of Calgary put up ‘no parking’ signs aimed at a community of RV owners parked along Moraine Road before city crews, police and tow trucks moved in the following day to remove them.
Global News
In September, the motorhome dwellers were issued notices by the city to vacate the street so road upgrades could be completed in the area.
However, an extension was granted and temporary parking permits were issued so city administration could find a temporary location for the RVs, but the motorhomes refused to leave.
If approved by city council, Chabot’s motion calls for the scoping report into a permanent location for the motorhomes to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2025.