In the context of growing shortages of affordable housing in Alberta, the policy discourse in the last decade has centered on ways to get the private sector’s involvement through a variety of public-private partnerships, policy incentives, and regulatory measures. In research explores alternatives for private sector engagement in the provision of affordable housing focusing on four clusters of policy instruments regulatory/planning, % scale, % financial, and institutional. The article provides a much-needed overview of challenges and opportunities in Alberta using conceptually appropriate analytical framework, fresh empirical evidence, case study analysis and insights from the practical experiences of industry professionals.