Province
Vancouver is promising that its three-pronged approach to creating more housing in existing lots will offer more rental choices for seniors, students and low-income residents — and ease the financial burden for property owners.
– City council approved internal secondary suites in existing apartments on Tuesday.
Suites can be as small as 200 square feet. They’ll be allowed in apartment blocks and mixed-use buildings in commercial areas along main roads in downtown Vancouver and Southeast False Creek.
They must be equipped with a full kitchen and at least one bathroom. The suite must have a separate entrance into a corridor or to the outdoors, and a shared internal door that can be locked off.
Secondary suites are not allowed to be strata titled separately from the main unit. The suite within the apartment can only be used for tenant or family use.
No additional vehicle parking places are required for the suite, but they must provide bicycle parking.
The inspiration? Simon Fraser University introduced the idea five years ago at UniverCity, a condo development that included 25 250 square-foot, “locked-off” secondary units that were quickly scooped up to rent out at $400 a month.
– The debate on laneway housing continues Tuesday night.
Under the proposal, the freestanding homes could be as small as 205 square feet and as large as 500 square feet for studio and one-bedroom units.
Height would be limited to 1.5 storeys and the house’s footprint would be the size of a two-car garage. Like secondary suites, laneway homes would not be strata titled and are designed for rental use only. Laneway homes could exist with a main house or a house with a secondary suite.
– Basement suites in single-family homes have also been approved, and will allow for larger basement suites after residents argued to council that existing single-family zoning barred them from creating livable suites. — Carmen Chai
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