Densifying Single Family Neighbourhoods

The news is abuzz after CoV Council’s direction last week to explore a pilot project to allow up to six strata units on a single residential lot within the city.

This is “gentle densification” - not what most people envision when they think about affordable housing - big block apartments with double loaded corridors. But it really isn’t that foreign. Proposals by Bryn Davidson of Lanefab Design/Build and MA + HG Architects include variations on a fourplex at the front of the lot and a modest duplex at the back.

Why the RS zones? It’s simply about land mass. Zoning dedicated to single family living accounts for over 57% of the land within the city. Housing demand is high and supply is low = prices continue to escalate, even during a global pandemic. If we don’t allow sprawl - we need to densify to increase supply - through infill or going tall. We have seen this play out with mixed use projects re-lining the major arterials - Cambie, Oak and Broadway. But, this has come nowhere near providing the housing stock necessary to affect the forces of supply and demand that drive housing prices. And, it has left the primary provision of housing in the control of the big developers.

Mayor Kennedy is queuing this up to be a major election issue with the launch of Making Home - a website outlining the proposal to “imagine homes the middle class can afford”.

This follows previous moves by the city over the last decade to allow laneway homes, strata infill homes and duplex units on RS lots. The Vancouver Sun article on Saturday provided an interesting historical account of the legalization of basement suites (less than 20 years ago) and the controversy over the oh-so-prevalent Vancouver Special that provided a full kitchen on both the upper and lower level. We now take for granted the significant contribution these alternate housing models make to the diversity and affordability of housing in our city.

Is it a good idea and is it viable? Michael Anderson provides an interesting interrogation of the proposal here including a link to the feasibility report produced by Small Housing BC in 2019 exploring “Permanently Affordable Home Ownership”. (plan option images included above).

Take a good read and let us know what you think of the proposal!