INNISFAIL – As the Government of Alberta celebrates with news the province is leading the country this year with first-quarter housing starts, the Town of Innisfail is finally showing signs of positive momentum with future new builds.
In April, the Town of Innisfail released final building permit totals for 2024 with a total estimated construction value of $17,441,787.
Last year the municipality issued a total of 140 building permits, a 41.4 per cent increase over 2023 when 99 were recorded.
“This is a significant increase from 2023 ($9.76 million) and one of the highest totals in the last 15 years,” said Meghan Jenkins, the town’s director of community services.
In 2018, the town had total building activity worth almost $26.7 million, with $20.5 million of that total coming from institutional construction.
However, last year was a far different construction picture with types of building spread around, including a huge bump for housing, along with a $2.3 million value for industrial development and $1.3 of commercial construction.
Central to the 2024 figures is that there were 23 new detached homes set to be constructed, along with 12 multi-unit dwellings.
That compared to 12 low density residential building permits issued in 2023 with none for multi-unit dwellings.
“It was an excellent year in 2024,” said Mayor Jean Barclay of the overall building permit totals but especially so for the promise of new housing starts. “It's good to see the new housing going up, the multi unit housing going up.
“I feel we have a lot of momentum right now, so we will see what 2025 brings.”
On April 15, the province issued a media release stating that Alberta had 18 per cent more housing starts than last year’s record-breaking first quarter totals that led the country.
The media release goes on to point out that since 2019 the provincial government has invested almost $851 million to build almost 5,300 affordable housing units and close to 900 shelter spaces.
On April 14, Innisfail's council gave the green light to move forward with infrastructure construction for the westside Napoleon Lake South housing development, a project that aims to build 62 housing units, along with an apartment building.
