Further Strengthening Governance and Funding Models for Seniors’ Lodge Accommodations
IT IS THEREFORE RESOLVED THAT Alberta Municipalities:
- Advocate to the Government of Alberta to ensure that regulations and Ministerial Orders resulting from the 2026 legislative amendments mandate meaningful municipal governance participation on seniors’ lodge boards, including the formal right to review HMB operating and capital budgets and a defined process appropriate to each HMB’s governance structure to address material concerns related to those budgets before requisitions are finalized;
- Advocate to the Government of Alberta to provide an update on the negotiation of a new province-wide funding agreement that ensures the mandatory capital and operating reserves required by the amended Alberta Housing Act are not funded primarily through municipal requisitions, but through a sustainable provincial contribution that reflects the Province’s primary responsibility for social housing; and
- Explore opportunities to align advocacy efforts with the Rural Municipalities of Alberta to ensure a unified municipal voice in addressing the shared challenges of HMB requisitions and the long-term viability of the seniors’ lodge system.
WHEREAS municipalities have a legislated mandate under the Alberta Housing Act to fund the annual deficit for the previous fiscal year and capital and operating reserve requisitions of Housing Management Bodies (HMBs) providing seniors’ lodge accommodations;
WHEREAS the Government of Alberta’s Seniors Lodge Program Review Panel Final Report (2025) identified systemic issues including aging infrastructure, significant deferred capital maintenance, and inconsistent funding models that threaten the long-term sustainability of seniors’ housing;
WHEREAS the amendments through Bill 28 Municipal Affairs and Housing Statutes Amendment Act to the Alberta Housing Act as well as the concurrent amendments to the local Ministerial Orders have collectively eroded municipal oversight, specifically by removing mandatory financial reporting and budget approval mechanisms, while maintaining municipal funding obligations and the resulting fiscal impacts unaddressed;
WHEREAS without strengthened legislative mechanisms for municipalities to approve budgets and align them with local requirements, both orders of government face increased financial risk, potentially leaving taxpayers as the sole backstop for escalating HMB deficits that municipalities can no longer effectively monitor;
WHEREAS the Rural Municipalities of Alberta have identified similar concerns regarding insufficient provincial funding leading to increased requisitions on the municipal property tax base for both operational and capital costs; and
WHEREAS previous Alberta Municipalities resolutions regarding affordable housing funding models and capital support are set to expire, necessitating a renewed and aligned advocacy effort to address the growing deferred maintenance and financial pressures on municipalities.
BACKGROUND:
In July 2025, the Government of Alberta released the Seniors Lodge Program Review Panel Final Report, emphasizing the need for predictable, long-term capital funding streams and stronger municipal-provincial alignment. While the 2026 amendments to the Alberta Housing Act actioned structural recommendations from the review panel’s report regarding mandatory capital reserves (Recommendation 4), critical recommendations regarding the reform of funding models to target an equitable share of costs based on the respective fiscal capacity of other orders of government to prevent the shifting of greater deficits onto municipalities (Recommendation 3) and the establishment of a transparent three-year rolling capital plan (Recommendation 5) remain largely unaddressed. Consequently, these legislative changes modernized the requirement for reserves without establishing the commensurate municipal oversight authority or the provincial funding levels necessary to manage the resulting fiscal impacts. This has created a mandate gap where municipalities are obligated to fund reserves and deficits without a formal legislative right to approve the budgets that drive those costs.
Recent municipal budget data shows a sharp rise in mandatory HMB requisitions for operating and capital funding across communities of all sizes, illustrating that this is a systemic provincial challenge rather than a localized one. For instance, the City of Edmonton’s 2026 budget discussions highlight that Greater Edmonton Foundation Seniors Housing identified a $4.7 million capital funding shortfall for high-priority projects that could not be met by existing reserves. Similar pressures are seen in mid-sized and smaller communities across Alberta.
A November 2024 Auditor General report found over $1 billion in deferred maintenance across the province’s affordable housing portfolio. The Alberta Seniors & Community Housing Association (ASCHA) has repeatedly warned that chronic capital underfunding places the financial sustainability of the entire program at risk and threatens the safety of vulnerable seniors. While recent provincial commitments toward lodge modernization are appreciated, they address only a fraction of the total need identified by housing providers.
This resolution seeks to reinforce the 2025 Review Panel’s recommendations by ensuring that “equitable funding” and “good governance” are translated into legislative protections. By strengthening the ability of municipalities to vet budgets and align them with local growth, this advocacy aims to support our seniors’ housing partners in securing a stable, transparent financial future that does not place an undue burden on the municipal property tax base.
ABmunis is preparing correspondence to the appropriate ministry