Vancouver city council to look at subdividing laneway homes

If you can’t afford to buy a house in Vancouver, relief might be on the horizon.

Vancouver city council will vote on a motion Wednesday to look at allowing the subdivision of single-family lots so people can buy just a laneway home, rather than the house that comes with it.

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The motion, from Couns. Sarah Kirby-Yung and Mike Klassen, says it would provide opportunities for multi-generational living, as well as for young families and first-time home buyers.

Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University and urban planning expert, says he sees the appeal because laneway homes have something condos don’t:

“Dirt,” said Yan, meaning access to a yard.

“There is a deeper desire, particularly for families, to live on more ground-oriented layouts for their living arrangements.”

The motion details that 42 per cent of single-family homes in Vancouver are owned “mortgage-free by individuals aged 65 or older,” adding that many are interested in downsizing or creating housing for family members.

It says jurisdictions like Seattle and California have implemented policies allowing similar homes to be stratified and subdivided, “resulting in a surge of new housing production and flexible ownership model.”

Yan says the city needs to write strong protections to ensure available subdivisions don’t get snapped up by speculators.

“Given the very specific real estate markets that exist in the city of Vancouver, you would hope that this motion would also include the kind of firewalls behind the behaviours that have made condominium living also quite expensive,” said Yan.

A survey by Small Housing BC found nearly half of owners with room to build a laneway house would do so — if the process were simpler and more affordable.

With nearly 300,000 single-family homes in Vancouver, that could mean hundreds of thousands of new homes.

Tamara White, the organization’s executive director, says with laneway homes have the potential to help “democratize the production of new housing [and] give more tools to everyday homeowners to help out with the housing crisis.”

“It really does give you the option to own a detached house,” she said. “Our extended families can finance those independently. You can sell them, inherit them; everything gets a lot easier than the way we do it currently.”

If passed, the motion will direct staff to explore the idea and report back with an analysis.

City Council is expected to meet at 9:30 a.m.

— With files from Jack Morse.