City looks at modular housing to fatten lean rental stocks
City of Vancouver staff are considering fast-tracking permits for standardized modular laneway homes as a way to help boost the city’s rental stock.
Such a move could speed up the development of backyard homes on the estimated 60,000 lots that can accommodate them in neighbourhoods across the city. While the entire city is zoned for laneway housing, just over 2,400 permits to build them have been issued.
For now, the city plans to test modular construction in pilot projects on city land, including a 40-home temporary social housing project at Main Street at Terminal Avenue. Over time, that focus will expand to cover units — including laneway homes — in the broader city, Vancouver’s chief housing officer Mukhtar Latif said.
“The city is looking at the process from the planning side and permitting side and seeing how we can streamline those,” Latif said in an interview.
That may include developing a standard template for homes that would — straight out of the factory — meet the city’s permit requirements.
The idea already has staff thinking about what they could do — provided there is enough interest from local homeowners — to encourage the growth of a modular housing industry in the city. Doing so could reduce transportation costs and emissions while creating jobs, Latif said, adding that the city planned to work with the Vancouver Commission to find incentives to help support an industry.
He could not reveal specifics as to what options were on the table.
“If they get the demand, they’re more likely to come themselves without any added incentives,” he said. “It’s whether or not there’s any interest in the market, and that’s what we want to explore as part of the pilot process.”
Latif joined Mayor Gregor Robertson at a news conference early Monday at Robson Square, where a modular home will be on display for public viewing until Nov. 1. It’s an example of one of the temporary units destined for low-income residents at 1500 Main St. in early 2017. The display dwelling is spartan but comfortable. There is a small but fully equipped kitchen, a shower, sink and toilet, in-unit climate control and enough living space for one person, or two in a pinch. The room lets light in through thin horizontal windows high on the walls.
Every part of the home — including the foundation — can be transported from site to site. That is key, because staff are testing the idea of hosting modular homes for short stretches of time on unused land awaiting redevelopment. The builder for the Main Street project is Horizon North, a Canadian company that will take four weeks to pump out the 40 homes.
Robertson said there are 10 city sites now slated for modular housing and, speaking specifically of developments on city land, he called the concept part of Vancouver’s near-term housing future.
“We see an immediate need for modular housing to address homelessness and (for) people on very low incomes who can find no place to live in Vancouver right now,” he said.