In about two weeks, the two-story, two-bedroom laneway suite that replaced Tabatha Southey’s garage will be ready for his son and fiancée to move in.
She says the 1,000-square-foot freestanding home that cost about $ 560,000 to build and garden could easily house her, her parents, or a tenant.
It is one of 50 homes Toronto residents have built in their backyards since the city passed an ordinance in 2018 allowing a second home to be built on lots that face alleyways.
The Southey Laneway House has been a labor of love designed to blend in with the character of the Cabbagetown house where he has lived for 28 years. His contractor, a neighbor, Mark Pelzi of Sumach Contracting, even went looking for matching bricks.
One of the best things about building the house, says Southey, a writer, is that it means more people will share your beloved neighborhood.
“It’s about two more people or three more people living in my neighborhood to go (to the local pub) to Parliament House, have a pint and support the other local businesses that I love,” he said.
“I know how lucky I am to live here. The idea of being able to extend that luck to someone else … I hope the whole block is filled with houses with alleys, ”Southey said.
That’s precisely what city officials were hoping for when they approved laneway suites in 2018. They wanted to diversify the types of housing available in downtown Toronto neighborhoods, opening them up to residents who might not otherwise be able to afford them.
But laneway suites haven’t made a dent, at least so far, on the city’s housing shortage or addressed its affordability challenges.
That’s why on Thursday, the city’s housing and planning committee approved changes to the road’s original statute to make the process faster and easier.
Politicians and planners say houses with streets are one of a series of solutions designed to smoothly add density to neighborhoods that already have transit connections and other high-value community services.
In addition to laneway suites, the city has expanded rules that allow for more secondary or basement suites to be built, and in January, garden suites are expected to be added to the mix so that more homes can be added to the lots that don’t. back to the alleys.
Since the statute was passed, there have only been 238 applications to build houses with alleys and only nine of those applicants are participating in Affordable Laneway Suites Pilot which offers forgivable loans of up to $ 50,000 in exchange for a 15-year commitment to maintain the rent below the average market price in the city.
City planning officials say houses with lanes were never expected to significantly boost the housing supply, but there will be cumulative gains. They also didn’t expect secondary homes to be more affordable than other Toronto rentals.
A city survey found that laneway suites rent for an average of $ 3.25 per square foot or $ 2,600 for an 800-square-foot two-bedroom unit. About 30 percent of building permit holders expected to use the alley suites for rent. Another 30 percent planned to house a family and 40 percent hoped to rent to the family or live on the street themselves.
Meanwhile, interest in the construction of lane suites has been on the rise: from 16 applications in 2018 to 95 last year. With 58 applications already filed in May, city officials expect at least the same number this year.
But with nearly 30,000 lots in downtown backed by streets, Toronto wants to encourage more homeowners to build these second homes.
Despite objections from about a dozen community groups, the committee agreed to allow the addition of about one foot to the existing height allowance for houses with alleys and to reduce the green space requirement in the backyard by allowing one more path. wide and waterproof between the original house and the street. home. The amendments still need to be approved by the city council.
Senior planner Graig Uens says the changes amount to adjustments to the original rules and address the concerns that most frequently send home lane requests to the Adjustment Committee.
He said the number of lane-building applications is what the city anticipated in a 2018 staff report that predicted between 100 and 300 per year.
“We are more or less at that point now,” Uens said, although the pandemic may have “frustrated the efforts of some people to do so.”
Deputy Mayor Ana Bailão, who chairs the planning and housing committee, says: “Nobody expected thousands to show up.”
“This is a new program. Even today I find that a lot of people don’t know about it,” he said.
She notes that the street charter amendments were part of a planning and housing committee agenda that also included other measures to make room for more people in the city’s established neighborhoods, including adding multiplex cinemas to the streets that they currently only allow single family and townhomes. and a reduction in parking requirements for condominiums.
The houses with alleys are a solution to two priorities of the city: the housing shortage and climate change, Bailão said.
When residents talk about preserving the character of their neighborhood, they sometimes fail to recognize that people are part of that character and that part is already changing. The workers, who have lived in established neighborhoods for decades, are being kicked out because they are no longer affordable, he said.
“The data shows us right now that there are a lot of neighborhoods that are actually declining in population,” Bailão said.
“We need to change to make sure we continue to have prosperous and inclusive neighborhoods.”
Although some have been advertised on short-term rental sites like Airbnb, the laneway suites were never intended to be tourist accommodation, Bailão said. But if the house off the street is the primary residence of the person who rents it short-term, either the homeowner or a tenant, and the rents are within the other short-term rental rules of the city , it is legal. .
“I certainly hope that through the (short-term rental) licensing system that we have created, we will capture whatever is not someone’s primary residence,” he said.
Independent planner Sean Galbraith, who helps clients navigate the Adjustment Committee, frequently criticizes Toronto’s progress in diversifying housing options in established neighborhoods. But he applauded the amendments to the rules of the streets.
“The city is doing well: it is learning and adapting to optimize things so that it is reasonably easy to make lane suites. The proposed changes will not get properties that do not yet qualify for a suite to get one, but they will mean that fewer variations will be needed, reducing costs and speeding up approvals, ”he said.
Architect Tom Knezic, who designed the alleys house for Southey and others, wrote a letter supporting the street charter amendments. He said the higher height allocation helps design more sustainable buildings, something that is of particular interest to his company, Solares Architecture.
He thinks so much “political baggage” has been imposed on the laneway program that it is sure to disappoint some.
Still, Knezic believes that homeowners should consider renovating and expanding their main home before building another backyard home.
“You should renovate your house to achieve the highest density possible. A basement apartment is one of the best things we can do if we want to increase affordability and increase the housing stock, increase density and not change the character in neighborhoods, ”he said.
“Once you’ve exhausted everything you can do around the house, you need to move into the lane. That should be the icing on the cake, ”Knezic said.
Point out that houses with alleys are expensive to build. The city found that they generally cost between $ 300,000 and $ 400,000. It’s probably too much to ask landlords to offer affordable rentals, Knezic said.
But, he said, “if we are adding density everywhere and adding units all the time, everything will be fine.”
He believes investors will be attracted to the potential rental yields on street houses. That will persuade more people to build them, and eventually there will be enough housing options to stabilize prices.
Shira Packer and Leandro Dourado participated in the laneway suite community consultations and were excited to build one in their backyard in Bloordale Village. Dourado, a contractor, was able to do most of the work on his 320-square-foot lane home, keeping his investment at around $ 100,000.
Built with a loft design, there is a bedroom, bathroom and mechanics on the ground floor with a kitchen, living room and dining room on the upper floor, it rents for around $ 1,700 per month.
They hope to recoup their investment in about five years, something Packer said they could never have done had they participated in the forgivable loan program.
“I love the idea of them offering that kind of grant and I think a lot more people would be interested in that. But they also have to take into account that the maximum rent to be charged was really low from a market perspective, “he said. “Maybe they could consider offering subsidies with fewer ties.”
For homeowners looking to invest in a rental property, laneway suites are among the most affordable options, Packer said.
“You are saving a lot if you already have the property you are building on,” he said.
Like Southey, Dourado would like to see many more houses with narrow streets. He envisions warm-weather community events and businesses like coffee shops bringing Toronto’s back alleys to life.
“It doesn’t have to be everyone,” he said. “If they put a booth in every neighborhood, it’s like, ‘Oh, let’s go to this alley tonight. There are going to be cafes or empanadas for sale. ‘ It’s so short this summer. “
Reference-www.thestar.com