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You can absolutely fight Saskatoon city hall and win — even on a high-priority file like affordable housing.
Public opposition to a proposed affordable housing project in the Avalon neighbourhood helped convince the city to abandon a plan to rezone the site.
But there’s good news for a city that remains hundreds of affordable housing units below its target to receive federal funding.
It appears likely that the company that wanted to build the 25-unit building in Avalon at the corner of Ruth Street and Broadway Avenue is now poised to more than double that number with a new development north of downtown.
“So I’m glad to hear that they reconsidered,” said Darren Mulligan, who owns a house directly behind the parcel that was up for rezoning in Avalon, and another house right next to it. Mulligan’s concerns about the plan were shared by other nearby residents.
“And it feels good knowing that, yeah, if you speak your mind, present your case — not in a hostile way, but with facts — then yeah, maybe they do listen,” Mulligan said in an interview on Thursday.
The city’s director of planning and development, Lesley Anderson, said in an emailed statement that the factors prompting city hall to halt its plan to rezone the site for development included “concerns with the increased density” heard during community consultations.
Coun. Holly Kelleher, who represents Avalon and the adjacent Queen Elizabeth neighbourhood just north of the proposed site, acknowledged she originally voiced support for the affordable housing project at that location.
She said the public consultations revealed that people in the neighbourhood support affordable housing in principle, but were concerned about the size of the project and the increased traffic and demand for parking it could bring.
“I think those are all really valid concerns,” Kelleher said Thursday in an interview.
She said the planning and development landscape has also changed since the project was proposed. Developers seeking rezoning for two separate projects without affordable components in other parts of the city were rejected by city hall earlier this year.
Kelleher stressed she still supports greater density in established neighbourhoods because of the high cost of developing new neighbourhoods.
“We are critically short of units needed, we just need more housing stock available, so I am glad that this project has found a home that is better suited,” she said.
An empty field owned by the City of Saskatoon is seen on Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, in the City Park neighbourhood in Saskatoon. (Phil Tank/CBC)
More units at new site
Council’s finance committee on Wednesday approved selling a much larger parcel of land in the 900 block of Third Avenue North in the City Park neighbourhood to Vox Development Ltd., the company that was going to build the project in Avalon.
The committee heard the city-owned land in City Park could accommodate 58 to 64 affordable housing units.
Myles Parkinson of Vox said the new location represents a preferred site, but will also provide more density close to downtown. The parcel of land is currently an empty field with several small apartment buildings adjacent to it.
Parkinson said in an interview Thursday that affordable housing units, such as those planned for the site, are needed “desperately” in Saskatoon. The City Park site will not need to be rezoned for the project to move ahead, he added.
Vox is in the process of designing a project for the new site based in part on previous developments, Parkinson said.
Anderson explained to the finance committee why the city proposed a direct sale to Vox, rather than letting all bidders have a chance to buy the land.
She said she could not guarantee that other potential purchasers would not be interested in buying and developing the City Park parcel, but “Vox has put in a significant amount of time and energy into the Broadway [Avenue] site.”
Coun. Randy Donauer said he has trouble defending sales like the one to Vox because they violate the city’s usual policy on land sales.
However, the committee unanimously approved the sale of the City Park land to Vox for $1.4 million, a transaction that still needs formal approval from council.
This conceptual rendering shows a proposed affordable housing development that was planned for the corner of Broadway Avenue and Ruth Street in the Avalon neigbourhood in Saskatoon. (City of Saskatoon)
Anderson said the city is in a “bit of a conundrum” because it remains hundreds of units short of the target to receive federal Housing Accelerator Fund money. Building permits need to be issued before the end of the year to qualify, she added.
On Thursday, a sign remained on the Avalon site touting it as the future home of an affordable housing development.
City hall returned the deposit to Vox and will now sell the four lots that comprise the Avalon parcel.
