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New interest in laneway housing focuses on treating these homes as secondary dwellings located on the same property as another house.

As Toronto continues to sort out solutions to the housing crisis, the city is considering laneway homes as a means to curb the current situation as advocates claim that laneway properties could be used as rental units.

Can laneway housing work in Toronto? It can. Ms. Shim and Mr. Sutcliffe’s experience teaches us that – and their experience also shows that Toronto should be much more courageous in allowing change to its neighbourhoods.

Toronto has a large supply of laneways behind many of our city streets, and an even larger demand for affordable housing. Simple math would suggest that this is an easy match and solution. Urban planning, however, is never that simple.

The solution to Toronto’s housing affordability crisis could be found in your own backyard.In response to skyrocketing home prices, the city’s looking to loosen the bylaws around developing one of its few sources of underused land: laneways.