With housing costs ballooning and an alarming shortage of rental units available, city officials in Toronto are eyeing alleys (or laneways, as they’re called in the Canadian city) as a source of “gentle density” for neighborhoods with standalone homes. Last week, Toronto city staff were directed to report on an initiative that would make laneway residences more feasible.
Laneway Suites Could Open Up New Toronto Housing Possibilities: Report
A report devises a plan to build laneway housing that falls more in-line with city bylaw.
When Alex Sharpe decided to transform a garage into a coach house in The Pocket neighbourhood in 2011, all city planners saw was a second home on the same lot.
Access to Laneway Housing: An Interview With Lanescape’s Craig Race
Recently, we caught up with Craig Race, an architect and co-founder of Lanescape to learn more about laneway housing and its efforts in making them accessible in Toronto. Lanescape is a citizens’ advocacy group that is building political will for the City to pass a bylaw in support of this type of housing. This blog is the first of a blog series entitled Affordable Housing.
Making Laneway Homes Viable
Alex Sharpe, co-founder of Lanescape, shows how he was able to transform a garage space into a luxury laneway apartment.
Toronto is Finally Ready to Embrace Laneway Housing
Toronto is poised to make a major breakthrough to expand laneway housing. Yesterday, community council passed a motion requesting that city staff report on a laneway suite initiative that would dramatically cut the red tape surrounding the creation of these residential spaces. The directive awaits city council approval in early July, which would put a staff report on the table in early 2018, but this is as close as Toronto has ever been…