North Vancouver pushes for secondary suites

North Vancouver City is pushing to change the B. C. Building Code to legalize secondary suites in duplexes, arguing it would help to ease Metro Vancouver’s housing crunch.

City officials have sent requests to the province and local MLAS to bring the code more in line with what is done nationally. They note that many people live in illegal suites in the city’s duplexes, and there’s a need to ensure the homes comply with fire safety measures. A request will also go to the Union of B. C. Municipalities. Mayor Darrell Mussatto said the suites offer another source of affordable housing and help homeowners to pay their mortgages.

But the existing Building Code is restrictive because it treats duplexes as a “four- plex” strata building and requires, among other things, a firewall separation between the units, he said.

A firewall is a noncombustible wall, usually constructed of concrete block, and can only practically be installed when a building is first erected.

The national Building Code accommodates secondary suites in multi- family units by allowing “fire separation” between two main units containing secondary suites, rather than a firewall.

This can be done by additional layers of fire- resistant drywall.

Metro Vancouver has been investigating ways to boost affordable housing across the region, with secondary suites playing an important role. Metro estimates there are between 70,000 and 75,000 secondary suites in single family buildings of the estimated 318,000 rental units in the region. There are also about 14,000 duplexes in the region based on 2009 B. C. Assessment Authority data.