Duplex zoning just one way city is Making Room

New housing options needed city-wide, writes Gil Kelley.

Last week, Vancouver city council approved a first step toward creating more housing choice and diversity in our single-family neighbourhoods with the approval of duplex zoning.

This is the start of a comprehensive planning and engagement process called Making Room, which will collectively reimagine how new housing opportunities can be sensitively added to low-density neighbourhoods across the city. It will include extensive public engagement and address the current and future needs of residents for housing, amenities, services, transportation and green space while recognizing the unique identities of our neighbourhoods

We heard clearly that more “missing middle” housing options are needed — such as lowrise apartments, townhomes and duplexes — through our 18-month Housing Vancouver engagement process, where we listened to the housing needs and concerns of more than 10,000 Vancouver residents. This work led to the adoption of the Housing Vancouver Strategy late last year, and directly informed the initiation of Making Room.

Vancouver’s housing crisis affects residents across Vancouver in more ways than just affordability. For many families that can’t afford to purchase a detached home, the limited remaining choices are simply not adequate. Vancouverites need more rental and ownership housing options between detached houses and high-density housing such as condominiums. This problem is particularly true for those looking to downsize in their own neighbourhoods, and for families who want to remain in the city.

As a first step to address this need, council endorsed the launch of the Making Room Housing Program in June. The first step within this program, to allow duplexes in most singlefamily areas, was approved by council on Sept. 19.

We need to allow for more housing types and improve affordability.

This zoning change means duplexes can now be built on most of Vancouver’s 67,000 singlefamily lots. That is almost 60 per cent of the city’s land that has been zoned exclusively for detached housing.

The new duplex option allows two ownership units within the same floor area that is currently allowed for a detached house. Like detached houses, each duplex unit can include a rental unit. The change is relatively small, as singlefamily zoning has already allowed for three housing units on each lot since laneway homes were introduced in 2009: a house, a basement suite and a laneway home.

Allowing duplex zoning is a modest but meaningful first step toward expanding housing choice and introducing a significantly lower-cost option to own a home. It’s important to note the change doesn’t allow for an increase in floor area. Analysis by city staff showed this would limit speculation on land values, and is one of the reasons we’re going ahead with this now. New duplex units are significantly less expensive than a new detached house in the same neighbourhood, and would enable more families to rent or own.

But it’s just a start. We need to allow for more housing types and improve affordability if we’re going to meet the needs of people who live and work in Vancouver.

We have heard strong interest around the need for effective neighbourhood engagement to ensure effective infrastructure, amenities and transportation systems are planned. We have also heard significant concerns regarding potential effects on land prices, speculation and ongoing affordability challenges. Under Making Room, we will work with communities and stakeholders across the city, those who live in our neighbourhoods and those who would like to have the opportunity to, about what they want to make room for.

Over the next year of planning and engagement, we will evaluate options that allow additional housing types such as triplexes, four-plexes, townhouses and apartments, with a view toward more walkable communities that include amenities, shops and transportation options.

Ultimately this will be part of a new city-wide planning process that will seek to create a common vision, policies and strategies to guide us to a long-term, healthy and sustainable future.