Bow Valley Vital Signs
Empowering community action through research, data and better information.
Insights That Matter
Bow Valley Vital Signs is a reporting program that explores timely and relevant topics important to our local community. Each report identifies significant trends, and provides in-depth, up-to-date data and information on a critical issue to inspire creative action.
Through the Vital Signs program, we are sharing knowledge and shifting power to tackle regional, national, and even global challenges with a local perspective, focusing on what matters most to the unique and wonderful communities here in the Bow Valley.
Housing in the Bow Valley
Our first Vital Signs report offers a comprehensive overview of housing in the Bow Valley.
Published April 26, 2024.
Vital Considerations: Housing
Over the last two years, Banff Canmore Foundation has been learning about the Bow Valley housing landscape by investigating what data exists to describe the state of housing in the Bow Valley and the systems and dynamics that underlay it. Here’s what we found.
Housing is a Valley-wide issue.
All communities are experiencing the crisis. Our escalating housing shortage is estimated, Bow Valley-wide, to be in excess of 3,000 units for full time residents, with the greatest need for multi-family and rental dwellings.
Housing is a complex (eco)system.
From wages and population growth to availability of housing stock and land use policies, there are a lot of factors that impact housing in the Bow Valley. In turn, housing significantly impacts community vitality. Learn about the United Nations 17 Sustainable Development Goals here.
Housing is impacted by our assumptions and beliefs.
The housing ecosystem is influenced by our attitudes, beliefs and unintended consequences of interventions that may solve one problem—and inadvertently create another.
What we believe impacts what we are able to imagine for this special place we call home."
- Erin Woods
Vital Actions: Housing
Vital Signs isn't just a report—it's a call to action. We all have a role to play in creating a more equitable housing landscape for all Bow Valley residents. Find out how you can help.
This report invites us to think regionally, with a systems lens, about our attitudes and the ways in which philanthropy might play a role that we haven’t thought about before.”
- Erin Woods
Invest in Community Vitality
Donate to the BCF Community Fund, which supports BCF grants and programs that enable organizations to pursue their goals in service to the community.
Become an impact investor by donating to the BCF Social Impact Fund, a pool of capital designated for making loans to projects that generate a blend of social and financial return, such as community housing.
Support local organizations and organizers doing good work in this space. See our past Community Grants recipients for ideas.
Community Priorities
From housing affordability to environmental sustainability, Bow Valley Vital Signs is part of our commitment to meeting the most pressing challenges facing our community. See BCF Community Priorities here.
