On Christmas Eve, my thoughts turned to city hall and the legalization of secondary suites. Strange thing to consider on Christmas Eve, you’re probably thinking. Not really. Because on that night, I was — for the third time — part of The Magic of Christmas program, one of Santa’s volunteer elves who helps bring the joy of the season to people in need.

Over those nights, I visited with a number of people — I’ll call them the sheltered homeless — living in a variety of apparently illegal suites. At one point, I had to crawl under furnace ducting to get to one family’s “home.” I later met a family of five living in a one-bedroom basement unit featuring exposed wiring, doorless kitchen cupboards and the distinctive smell of mould.

There are countless underprivileged people living in unregulated, unsafe, slum-like conditions like these who literally have no recourse. They put up with unspeakable conditions because they have nowhere else to go. If tenants complain, the only thing the city can do is to shut the “slum” landlords down, and effectively kick the tenants out. How can the city force improvements to something that isn’t supposed to exist?

Landlords who allow tenants to live under these conditions are nothing short of criminal, in my opinion. Yet these suites represent an important supply of affordable housing in Calgary. If the city were to eliminate illegal suites, where else will the tenants go, except to homeless shelters that are already crowded? There is certainly enough capital in our community to bring these places to code. What we lack is legislation requiring landlords to do so.

This experience made me seriously question our city’s lack of leadership on this critical social issue. We can all try to pretend that this situation isn’t happening, but it is. In fact, my guess is that those on city council who voted against secondary suites last year fully understood the negative impact on the most vulnerable members of our community, but turned a blind eye and catered instead to the vocal and uninformed minority in their constituencies whose “not in my backyard” attitude has scared them away from doing what’s necessary to improve the social landscape of this city.

Polls show that the vast majority of Calgarians are already in favour of legalizing secondary suites, and major community groups like the Calgary Chamber of Commerce are also behind it. But this isn’t a question of popularity, it’s now a question of leadership. For failing to move forward on this issue, for failing to protect these vulnerable tenants, and for failing to hold landlords — and our municipal politicians — to account, we are collectively to blame. There is simply no excuse for an inexcusable situation.

There are several conditions being floated under which suites should be legalized. All of them — related to meeting building and fire codes, on-site parking and homeowners living on the property — seem reasonable to me. I would add one caution: we may need to soften building codes for a time to allow people to transition toward legalized suites. This isn’t a perfect scenario, but on balance, it appears to me to be the right thing to do for both landlords and tenants.

Secondary suites would help a wide variety of people, from students to people with aging parents, but it’s the poor who most need it. City council is expected to vote again on this issue before the next election. As responsible citizens, we all have an obligation to speak up.

Simply put, I believe that councillors and community association leaders need to make sure that political and personal considerations aren’t used as an excuse to avoid responsible and ethical urban development.

Calgary is a great place to live for most of us. It’s time to make it a great place to live for all of us.

W. Brett Wilson is one of Calgary’s best known businessmen and respected philanthropists. Connect@WBrettWilson.