The ‘Issue of the Year’ is part of STOREYS annual week-long editorial series. You can find the rest of our 2023 BC selections here as they're released throughout the week.
When single-family neighbourhood zoning first got its grip on the planning departments of British Columbia’s cities in the early 1900s, it established a stronghold of complex zoning regulations, bylaws, NIMBYism, and head-scratching procedures that continue to choke land-use decisions in many, if not all, of BC’s fast-growing cities.
Exclusionary zoning and the pursuit of the so-called “missing middle” housing development have been squaring off over the last decade-plus in BC, especially in the Lower Mainland. It’s a tug-of-war that’s coming to a head, intensified by new zoning policies, record population increases, high interest rates, and sky-high housing and living costs that are clearly tearing at the fabric of society.
That’s why exclusionary zoning is STOREYS 2023 Issue of the Year.
BC Government Takes Aim at Exclusionary Zoning
In November, the BC NDP government proposed legislation to deliver more diverse housing on what have traditionally been single family lots. The goal is to spur development of more small-scale, multi-unit housing for people, including townhomes, triplexes and laneway homes, and to update zoning laws to build these homes faster.
The new law would override municipalities’ zoning rules to allow one secondary suite or one laneway home in all communities throughout BC. In communities with more than 5,000 people, these changes would require bylaws to allow for three-to-four units on single-family or duplex lots, depending on lot size; and six units on larger lots with single-family houses or duplexes.
‘Change Is Afoot’ But There Are Complicating Factors
"We are seeing a lot of change afoot with zoning reform work," said Tamara White, Executive Director of Small Housing, a non-profit that collaborates with government, industry, and homeowners to build more “gentle density” housing in single-family zones. "I think we've been pushed to the brink because there's been so many decades of under production of housing," White told STOREYS.
In a way, the new appetite by the provincial government and some municipalities that have already taken these rezoning steps marks a return to the forms of housing our cities were building in the early 1900s, White said. "The zoning reform component is only one element of what's actually going to make new housing supply come online.”
Blanket missing-middle zoning also needs to be met with a larger suite of regulatory and financial reform to ensure the homes actually get built. Technical permission isn’t the same as actually building multiplex homes in large-scale, White and others told STOREYS.
When exclusionary zoning, or single-family zoning, initially took hold, it established a framework with layers of new zoning regulations and procedures, White said. “It’s going to take more than one round of sweeping legislation to actually undo that framework.”
Success will require commercial developers and non-developer house owners to play a role, White said. (Supporting those owners is part of Small Housing’s mandate.)
White added that the complex permitting process, approval delays, and high development fees could dissuade homeowners from redeveloping their properties.
A Surge in Multiplexes Could Overwhelm Civic Utilities
Rocky Sethi is a veteran property developer in the Lower Mainland. The former COO of Adera Development, Sethi is now the managing director of Stryke Group, a boutique real estate investing and consulting company. Sethi has personally redeveloped single-family lots into multiplexes.
Sethi told STOREYS the up-zoning changes are overdue, but he cautioned that there remain barriers to actually building multiplex homes in many single-family neighbourhoods.
For example, Sethi recalled a recent conversation with a local government official who admitted that if several single-family homes were to be developed into multiplexes on a single street in their city, their water, hydro and sewer services wouldn't be able to cope.
That process would require major fees for infrastructure upgrades, or "we couldn't even give them water," the local official told Sethi.
"Hard pipes in the ground are very expensive to do and... that's just the tip of the iceberg," Sethi said. "I think the other big one is... hydro. Hydro is a huge problem for many projects, and I don't know how they're going to keep up with these smaller projects."
Overall, Sethi said he applauds the idea of developing strategies to produce more diverse housing, but he questions the financial and expertise feasibility for owners trying to redevelop properties on their own. "We're pushing down the responsibility of creating affordable housing to those that are least prepared and able to deal with it.”
“I’ve done it,” Sethi said. “And it’s not easy.”
There are also questions around financing, White said. “Some of our credit unions have been stepping up in this space, but many of our other financial institutions aren't really playing an active role in supporting construction finance for these types of projects, and we think that they can be doing a much better job of participating in this space.”
Some local governments are already playing a part, White said, listing Vancouver, Kelowna, Victoria and Kimberley among the cities that have developed their own zoning rules to allow more diverse home development on single-family lots.
Our Need For a Broader Mix of Housing Is Obvious
Vancouver design and development expert Michael Geller said solutions are certainly needed.
"There's no doubt that in many neighbourhoods, especially those which have had almost exclusively single-family houses, you have not achieved that broader mix of housing types and socioeconomic groups that will likely be possible given the new zoning directions," Geller told STOREYS. "I'm actually quite optimistic about the direction (by lawmakers), except it isn't going to happen as fast as many of us would like."
As we look into the near future, there are plenty of questions about how the provincial legislation will play out, how municipalities fall in line, and whether or not developers respond, Geller said.
There are other questions Geller asked. "What community amenity contributions will be required? What building height will be mandated, and so forth. We don't know yet. How this will play out in the various municipalities.”
The City of Victoria, for instance, enacted its missing-middle zoning policy earlier this year. The initiative allows for up to six units of housing – including townhouses and duplexes – on lots currently zoned for single-family homes. It’s been a divisive issue and it remains unclear if homeowners and developers are actually going to build much of the housing the new rules permit.
What's clear is that single-family zoning, or exclusionary zoning, has contributed to our current housing crisis, Geller said. "More people are actually looking for something in between a single-family house that they can't afford, and an apartment that they don't want to move into. I think there is a growing market demand for this type of housing as long as it's affordable.”
Successful, profitable examples early on would help encourage others to follow suit, he said.
And what about the homeowners in ritzy neighbourhoods who are resisting new zoning?
"The answer is: by moving incrementally," Geller said. "Just slowly increase the [floor space ratio]; slowly increase the site coverage so that we're not coming forward with forms of housing that are so dramatically out of context that people will rebel."
Failure to Up-Zone Single Family Lots Carries Plenty of Risk
There's plenty of risk for BC cities should zoning rule changes not influence the amount of new missing middle housing, White said.
"It's about family values. This is a way to keep families together to support multi-generational living, to allow for people to downsize and be able to stay in the community where they have their social support. It's a way to invite adult children and their families to live with their parents on a property that is owned within the family. This is a way to allow our middle-income workers, our teachers, our firefighters to live in the communities where they serve."
