A laneway house is a form of detached secondary suites in Canada built into pre-existing lots, usually in the backyard and opening onto the

back lane The human back, also called the dorsum (: dorsa), is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral ...

. Most laneway houses are small. However, public concern has been raised in some communities about the impact that larger forms of this type of housing may have on privacy. Laneway houses are found in densely populated areas in Canadian cities, including

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, and

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Edmonton

In Edmonton, laneway homes are called garden suites and the numbers keep increasing as the City changes bylaws to increase density. The suites are very popular as

Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( , an abbreviation of its original name, "Air Bed and Breakfast") is an American company operating an online marketplace for short-and-long-term homestays, experiences and services in various countries and regions. It acts as a ...

properties, as retirement homes and for mortgage helpers.

Toronto

During the 19th century, back lanes were used by Toronto residents to house accessory buildings, including garages, storage units and/or stables. A number of these stables were

mews A mews is a row or courtyard of stables and carriage houses with living quarters above them, built behind large city houses before motor vehicles replaced horses in the early twentieth century. Mews are usually located in desirable residential ...

, which included a residential area on its upper levels. The earliest modern laneway home was built in 1989 at

Kensington Market Kensington Market is a distinctive multicultural neighbourhood in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Market is an older neighbourhood and one of the city's best-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Sites of Canada, ...

, and was designed by Jeffrey Stinston, a professor at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

's John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design. Another early example of a modern laneway home includes one built by Shim-Sutcliffe Architects in

Leslieville Leslieville is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated east of the Don River. It is bounded by the Canadian National railway line and Gerrard Street to the north, McGee Street to the west, Eastern Avenue to south, and Coxwell ...

in 1992. The architectural firm received approval for the design from the

Ontario Municipal Board The Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) was an independent administrative board, operated as an adjudicative tribunal, in the province of Ontario, Canada. It heard applications and appeals on municipal and planning disputes, as well as other matters s ...

, after the firm promoted the housing form as a method to take advantage of unutilized spaces. By 2005, there were approximately several dozen laneway homes in Toronto, including several that were raised illegally. The development of laneway houses in Toronto resulted in the municipal government reviewing their impact on services and their safety in 2006. Construction of laneway homes in Toronto remained limited until 2018, with earlier by-laws requiring property owners to gain the approval of the municipal planning department before they can build a laneway home. In 2018, the

municipal government of Toronto The municipal government of Toronto (Municipal corporation, incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. ...

approved a zoning amendment by-law to permit the development of laneway suites on all properties that has a residential designation. The amendment was a response to growing concern around affordable housing, and as an effort to promote "gentle densification" by tapping into roughly 2400 publicly owned laneways spread across the city. As a result of the by-law, there exists approximately of laneways where laneway houses may be built in the city. The majority of these laneways are situated in the old City of Toronto and

East York East York is a district and former municipality within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. From 1967 to 1998, it was officially the Borough of East York, a borough within the upper-tier municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The borough was dissolved ...

. The municipal government of Toronto also launched the "Laneway Suites Pilot Program" in 2018, providing financial assistance to property owners that build laneway houses for rent, on the condition that the property owner can not raise the price of rent past the city's average market rent for 15 years after it is completed. Toronto-based architects and architectural firms that have designed laneway houses in the city includes Lanescape, Donald Schmitt, LGA Architectural Partners, Shim-Sutcliffe Architects, and Superkül. Toronto-based builders specializing in laneway houses in the city includes Laneway Home Building Experts and 2x2 Construction, who is estimated to build 10-12 Laneway Homes in 2022 alone.

Vancouver

The introduction to

of this form of housing was part of an initiative by former Mayor Sam Sullivan, as part of his council's EcoDensity initiative to increase

urban density Urban density is a concept used in urban planning, urban studies, and related fields to describe the intensity of people, jobs, housing units, total floor area of buildings, or some other measure of human occupation, activity, and development acro ...

in pre-existing neighbourhoods while retaining the single-family feel of the neighbourhood. Vancouver's average laneway house is , one and a half stories, with one or two bedrooms. Typical regulations require that the laneway home is built in the back half of a traditional lot in the space that is normally reserved for a garage. In December 2009, the Sustainable Laneway House project began. BC Hydro Power Smart joined

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

and the

City of Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Met ...

in championing the project. A host of industrial partners joined the effort by providing expertise, materials and labour, including Smallworks Studio and Laneway Housing, Fortin Terasen Gas, Embedded Automation, Day4 Energy, VerTech Solutions, MSR Innovations and Pulse Energy. Westhouse was showcased at the Yaletown LiveCity site during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games to over 66,000 people and subsequently moved to its current semi-permanent site at SFU. Vancouver's first laneway house to be completed under the 2009 laneway house bylaw was the Mendoza Lane House by Lanefab Design/Build. The Mendoza lane house is 710sf and was built on a 33'x122' lot and features a single outdoor parking space. The project was granted an occupancy permit by the City of Vancouver in May 2010. One of the top Vancouver-based laneway construction companies, home wealth investments, specializes in affordable-cost effective home construction. The first unsubsidized '

net zero Global net-zero emissions is reached when greenhouse gas emissions and removals due to human activities are in balance. It is often called simply net zero. ''Emissions'' can refer to all greenhouse gases or only carbon dioxide (). Reaching net ze ...

' solar-powered laneway house was completed in 2012. In July 2013, an updated set of rules governing laneway house design in Vancouver went into effect. The July 2013 rule update was aimed at making it easier to build one-storey laneway houses, and to address concerns about parking and the use of garages.

Affordability

Like Toronto, housing affordability is an important issue in Vancouver, due to the high density of population in the city. While the EcoDensity Charter is no longer applicable in Vancouver due to the current council's updated strategies on affordability and Greenest City initiatives, initial concerns around laneway housing and affordability that related to the EcoDensity Charter remain. The approach from the Charter was to increase the supply of housings to help moderate house prices and to reduce the living costs from transportation and energy.

New housing policies in British Columbia

As of 2023 in British Columbia, housing policy changes are coming that aim to simplify regulations, increase design choices, and promote Missing Middle Housing, making it easier to build laneway homes and navigate the permit process for a more inclusive and adaptable housing landscape.

References