As we continue to grow as a city, how can we make sure we’re supporting everyone who calls Airdrie home?

The City of Airdrie invests in social services to support our residents. We wish to recognize our strengths, understand the needs of our community, and identify any gaps we may have in social programs and services.

A Social Needs Assessment will help us determine the best way to direct our support to close identified gaps, and to respond to both opportunities and challenges within our community. This will help us ensure that our investments provide the greatest benefits to you, the residents of Airdrie. You will have a number of opportunities to have your say about social services and issues in our community.

We want to hear what you have to say about community social strengths, challenges and needs. The feedback you provide, along with what we've heard from social service providers and those they serve, will help shape the future of social service provision in our community.

Current Engagement Opportunities

We are working with youth to understand their thoughts on social needs, issues, and services in Airdrie. Youth Engagement will continue into May.

Come join us at your Open House to ensure that survey results reflect your understanding and provide your input on whether anything was missed by the survey.

Future Engagement Opportunities

You will have additional opportunities to get involved and have your voice heard in the coming months. Additional details will be released closer to the dates of these opportunities.

We will hold kitchen table style informal conversations with residents about social issues, needs, and strengths in Airdrie. More information will be available at a later date.

We will work with specific focus groups to dive deeper into the issues and needs of selected subpopulations.

Completed Engagement Opportunities

  • Social Needs Assessment Survey (Now Closed)

    The survey is now closed. Details about future opportunities will be posted to this page as details are finalized. Thank you for providing your input on social issues, needs, and services in Airdrie.

Results and Reports

Preliminary Results

Below is a high-level overview of the preliminary survey results which will help inform the remainder of our Social Needs Assessment engagement opportunities. Residents will have a chance to share their thoughts about these results (and more) at our Open House May 21, 2025 and our Coffee Chats with Social Planners (Coming soon).

In regards to what residents like most about Airdrie, the following key themes emerged from the preliminary analysis of responses:

  • Safe, clean, quiet – residents feel safe when out walking, there’s less traffic than a big city, and Airdrie is good place for raising a family.
  • Great natural and recreational amenities – we have great walking and biking paths, green spaces, canals, playgrounds, prairie views.
  • Small town feel with big city amenities – the majority of services are close-by; it is “a 10-min city” with very little more than a 10 min drive away; friendly, helpful people; family-oriented; easy to get everywhere; and great sense of community.
  • Great proximity and access – to work, Calgary, HWY 2, YYC International Airport, Banff, etc.
  • Many festivals, community celebrations, sporting events – help foster and a sense of belonging.

More residents had concerns about affordability than any other social issue in Airdrie. Residents also recognized challenges facing our youth.

This affordability trend continued when we asked residents to identify the three social issues they were most concerned about in Airdrie. Crime, mental health, and challenges to youth well-being were also top of mind.

Healthcare services were identified by the highest number of respondents as a social need in Airdrie along with affordable market housing and opportunities for youth after graduating high school.

When asked about the top threemost pressing social needs in Airdrie, respondents indicated healthcare services, mental health services, services for youth, and affordable market housing.

Awareness and usage of social services vary greatly depending on the service in question. This is not entirely surprising as residents tend to look for services to meet specific needs.

However, there are a good number of services that residents are aware of and using.

Just over half of survey respondents reported encountering barriers to accessing social services in Airdrie.

The most common barriers to accessing social services in Airdrie are wait times or lists, that the services are not available here, or that residents needed to leave the city to access certain services.

Barriers were encountered across almost the entire spectrum of services.

Report Back to the Community (Coming Soon)

We will share a final report that incorporates what we heard across the various engagement opportunities with the community.