While the majority of poll respondents like the idea of multi-family housing, they want to see their children live in houses.While the majority of poll respondents like the idea of multi-family housing, they want to see their children live in houses. (CBC)

A new poll has found that while Calgary residents like the idea of highrises and townhouses, they would rather live in a neighbourhood made up of mostly single-family houses.

Local homebuilders who commissioned the poll hope the results will bolster their arguments against Plan It, the city's long-range development proposal. Plan It calls for curbing urban sprawl by increasing the number of multi-family housing in the inner city, while limiting the number of single-family homes on the perimeter.

"Single family is important to the city of Calgary," said homebuilders spokesman Dennis Little. "It's part of its identity. It's part of the Prairie atmosphere that we have here. It's what has made Calgary successful. We just really don't want to throw that away too quickly," he said.

The poll's findings

  • 57 per cent agreed that encouraging more high-density homes was a good thing for their community.
  • 79 per cent of respondents wanted their children to be able to live in a single-family home.
  • 67 per cent wanted to live in an area predominantly made up of single-family homes.
  • 83 per cent expected to use their cars for most of their transportation needs in the next 10 to 20 years.

The Calgary chapter of the Canadian Homebuilders' Association and the Urban Development Institute commissioned the poll. In March, 800 randomly selected adults were contacted by telephone by an accredited research firm, and the results are deemed accurate within plus or minus 3.5 per cent.

The poll supports what the housing industry has been saying all along, said Little.

"Over 70 per cent of the people that we surveyed here wanted a single-family home for themselves and their family and their kids in the future," he said.

Poll too narrow, says alderman

After the homebuilder's survey was released, the City of Calgary issued a press release saying it welcomed the results.

"Plan It recognizes the single family home will continue to be the predominant housing form for many decades to come. The city currently has a sufficient planned land supply ready to accommodate 185,000 more Calgarians in single or two-family homes in new suburbs, at the city's edges."

Inner city Ald. Druh Farrell, who is championing Plan It, counters that the survey also shows nearly 60 per cent support increasing density. What is missing is the full picture about the cost of single-family home neighbourhoods, she said.

"When you actually start talking about cost, who pays for them and what the consequences of those fees would be then you start seeing changes of opinions as well," she said.

Farrell said she has concerns about the questions and the methodology of the survey. City council will debate Plan It in June.