A laneway house is a form of detached secondary suites in Canada built into pre-existing

lots Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to: Common meanings Areas *Land lot, an area of land *Parking lot, for automobiles *Backlot, in movie production Sets of items *Lot number, in batch production *Lot, a set of goods for sale together ...

, usually in the backyard and opening onto the

back lane A back lane is a roadway often found in a planned medieval village running parallel to the main street at the other end of burgage plots. There may be a back lane on each side of the main street which, together with the main street itself, provides ...

. Most laneway houses are small. But, 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 Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, 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 ...

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 properties, as retirement homes and for mortgage helpers.

Toronto

During the 19th century, back alleys 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 most well-known. In November 2006, it was designated a National Historic Site of Canad ...

; 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 research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design The John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design (commonly referred to as Daniels Faculty) is an academic division at the University of Toronto which focuses on architecture, urban design and art. The Faculty was the first school ...

. Another early example of a modern laneway home includes one built by

Shim-Sutcliffe Architects Shim-Sutcliffe Architects is a Canadian architectural design practice based in Toronto, Ontario. Practice Shim-Sutcliffe Architects was founded in 1994 by University of Toronto professor Brigitte Shim and her partner Howard Sutcliffe. The founde ...

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 Ave ...

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 sp ...

, 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 to review 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 Old Toronto is that part of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that corresponds to the original City of Toronto which existed from 1834 to 1998. It was first incorporated as a city in 1834, after being known as the town of York, and being part of York ...

and

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

. 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 for the laneway home 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 Sam Sullivan (born November 13, 1959) is a Canadian politician who had served as the MLA for Vancouver-False Creek. Previously, he served as the Minister of Communities, Sport and Cultural Development with responsibility for Translink in the ...

as, part of his council's

EcoDensity The EcoDensity Initiative was officially launched in 2006 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in conjunction with the World Urban Forum. The initiative was a response to deconcentration of urban land use due to urban sprawl. The initiative us ...

initiative to increase

urban density Urban density is a term used in urban planning and urban design to refer to the number of people inhabiting a given urbanized area. As such it is to be distinguished from other measures of population density. Urban density is considered an importan ...

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 research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located from ...

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 ...

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. The first unsubsidized '

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

' 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laneway House House types Housing in Canada