Congregate living refers to a residence where four or more unrelated individuals occupy sleeping units in a building with shared access to cooking, laundry, or sanitary facilities.
Congregate living refers to a residence where four or more unrelated individuals occupy sleeping units in a building with shared access to cooking, laundry, or sanitary facilities.
These facilities include Supportive Housing, Limited Supportive Housing, Lodging Houses, and Fraternity and Sorority houses.
These facilities are now recognized as commercial businesses operating in residential zones. Owner/operators are required to obtain a City of Edmonton Rental Accommodation business licence.
These changes do not currently affect how secondary suites and apartment buildings are regulated.
The Development Compliance Team is available to help answer any questions.
A congregate living facility application form has been developed to streamline the application process. This application obtains the necessary information for the development permit.
If you currently own a building or lodging house in which four or more unrelated individuals occupy sleeping units in the building and share access to cooking, laundry or sanitary facilities, then you require a development permit, building permit, and rental accommodation business licence to continue operating.
If you operate a supportive housing, limited supportive housing, fraternity or sorority house, then you require a development permit, building permit, and rental accommodation business licence to continue operating. Note: Fraternity and Sorority Housing are exempt from the business licence bylaw.
The Congregate Living Information Guide, along with the FAQ below, have more details.
- New Construction Fee (Group Homes, Limited Group Homes) OR Changing the Use of an existing Building (Permitted Uses, Discretionary Use)
- Notification Fee (Required when you are proposing a Discretionary Use or you need a variance in the regulations.)
- Sanitary Trunk Sewer Charge
- Building Permit Fees are calculated based on the cost of construction, type of permit required, and Safety Code Fees. Additional permits may be required such as Plumbing & Gas, Electrical and/or HVAC. Fees for these permits can be included with the commercial building permit fees.
- Business Licence Annual Fee (Rental Accommodation)
- Business Licence Consultation Fee (Only charged at startup)
- New Business Licence Approval — High and Maximum Risk (High Risk Fire Rescue Inspection Fee)
Edmonton Service Centre
2nd Floor, 10111 104 Avenue NW
Edmonton, AB T5J 0J4
Hours of Operation
Monday to Friday
8am to 4:30pm
| Telephone |
In Edmonton: 311 |
These types of accommodations will not be approved on sites that already support Major Home-Based Businesses, Secondary Suites or Garden Suites.
Operators of Supportive Housing, Limited Supportive Housing, Lodging Houses, and Fraternity and Sorority Houses need to comply with the ‘Best Practices’ for Rental Accommodations Business Licences. Failure to do so can result in fines, licence suspensions and licence revocations.
The following processes must be completed to obtain the required permit:
- Pre-application meeting with Safety Codes Officer and Development Officer
- Development permit application
- Building permit application
- Rental Accommodation business licence application
As long as you have a development permit for a Supportive Housing, Limited Supportive Housing, Lodging House, or Fraternity and Sorority House that matched your operation at the time it was issued and your operation has not changed since then, you will not be required to obtain a new development permit.
As long as you have a building permit for a Supportive Housing, Limited Supportive Housing, Lodging House, or Fraternity and Sorority House that matched your operation at the time it was issued and your operation has not changed since then, you will not be required to obtain a new building permit.
However, you may be required to obtain a development permit. It is recommended that you contact the Residential Compliance Team coordinator to discuss your property.
The maximum number of residents in Limited Supportive Housing is 6. The Development Officer can restrict the number of residents to less than the maximum where a lesser number is warranted.
In zones where Supportive Housing and Lodging Houses are Discretionary Uses, the maximum number of residents is 6.