What is Laneway Housing?

So, I wrote a post earlier today about laneway housing in Vancouver. On October 31st, Vancouver city council approved laneway housing. You can read all about the laneway housing in Vancouver right here.

After having written that post, I received a few messages from readers asking for more information. Most of it came down to, “What IS laneway housing”. Fair enough. It’s a new concept to a large degree. Vancouver is the first city (as far as I am aware to approve the building of this type of housing.

As a growing city, Vancouver faces a challenge of having enough (and affordable) housing for its residents. In a city where the average house is well out of reach of the average person, the city has decided to take some action. Aside from affordability and access, the city and its residents are also concerned about the environment and limiting our ecological footprint.

The result has been Ecodensity. This is an initiative out of City Hall that is attempting to frame future development of the city with an eye to affordability and environmental sensitivity. One of the key elements of the Ecodensity charter has been the concept of “laneway housing”.

The rather vague definition from the City of Vancouver Policy Paper on the issue of laneway housing states the following

“Laneway housing is generally a smaller house or cottage at the rear of a lot near the lane. However, this concept can take many different forms.”

Essentially, laneway housing is a secondary residential unit that faces the lane rather than the street on a standard residential building lot. My understanding is that these homes will be rental units that will be allowed only on full city lots (33′x120′) zoned single family residential (RS).

Laneway housing differs from the infill housing that is already permitted by the city. This “infill” housing has been allowed in areas with older, larger homes that are zoned as multi-family or duplex (RT vs RS). The infill housing that is allowed permits smaller backyard spaces, taller and larger structures than are being considered for laneway housing.

More Info on Vancouver Real Estate

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