Unlock Missing Middle Housing
The idiom goes “home is where the heart lies”… but let us not forget a flourishing heart is only achievable when the home is attainable.
The housing crisis and affordability issue has been a major cause of concern for many, especially young people. While a problem not just specific to the City of Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area, it has caused people to leave the City in droves and others spiraling to find solutions in what is proclaimed to be Canada’s largest city.
A Bloomberg article reports that as of March 2023, that the average price to rent a 1-bedroom condo was $2,506 per month and that this number will likely increase to $3,000 soon. Even with the Toronto median household income being $85,000 per annum, this still well exceeds the fiscally recommended 30% household to income ratio for affordable living. While reports have suggested the affordability issue is causing people to leave Toronto in search of elsewhere, rental vacancy rates would signify otherwise. The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s annual Rental Market Report reveals that vacancy rate has fallen to 1.7% from 4.4% at the beginning of 2023. Hence, for many, Toronto is still a highly favourable place to live while housing supply simply cannot support the demand. Alternatively, the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) 2023 first quarterly reports the median sale price for detached, semi-detached, townhouse and condo apartments are as follows: $1,270,000; $999,777; $758,950 and; $630,000. All while Canada’s prime interest rate hovers around 6%, which would greatly impact people’s purchasing power considering the comparison between median costs of homes and the average annual income.
It is important to understand housing tenureship can be either rental or ownership. Toronto is made up of 48.1% renters and 51.9% home owners according to the 2021 Census. So while availability in the condos units for rent can help the demand for rental housing, more housing supply needs to be made available for all types of tenureship and housing types to effectively combat the demand of both rental and ownership. Simply put, both forms of housing tenure have become increasingly difficult to attain for many in Toronto and surrounding areas.
So if the demand continues to increase, how can supply keep up? A part of the solution is allowing more diversity in the types of homes that get built. This is intended to allow more housing to be built within livable and desirable areas, and generate diversity in housing options. Ultimately, the availability of more housing can in turn initiate greater market competition so to not only help alleviate supply issues but also to escalate affordability relief.
Presently, development trends in Toronto permits mainly single detached dwellings or high-rise buildings on a majority of residential zoned lands. Most condos have been established in the city core, but outside of the city core the suburbs consist of mainly detached homes. This is otherwise termed as the “Yellowbelt” in Toronto urbanism. Coined by urban planner, Gel Meslin, who has pointed out that these Yellowbelt policies are potentially contributing to housing issues, by limiting supply. In order to provide more housing and responsibly increase density in neighbourhoods with established infrastructure and amenities, new housing types referred to as the “missing middle” will need to be introduced.
Source: The Yellowbelt — mapTO
The term is coined by Daniel Parolek of Optics Design inc. and is defined as a range of house-scale buildings with multiple units — compatible in scale and form with detached single-family homes — located in a walkable neighborhood. This form of housing density has been ignored from residential development trends due to regulatory constraints, such as zoning similar to the Yellowbelt in Toronto, the shift to auto-dependent patterns of development, and the incentivization of single-family home ownership or ownership in general as a commodity.
Source: Missing Middle Housing
In short, missing middle housing is a sustainable method of development because it allows for more units on a single lot of land while keeping with the general built form and capability of existing neighbhourhoods. It is important to note that they are not meant to be provided at the height or scale of condos or apartments buildings. This all contributes to effective housing stock, diversification, and allowing people of all stages in life to have a choice as to how and where they want to live so that they may have adequate access to local services and amenities.
Source: Missing Middle Housing
The City of Toronto has recently made great progress towards unlocking the missing middle throughout it neigbhourhoods. On May 10, 2023 Toronto Council voted 18–7 in favor of legalizing up to four dwelling units on all residential zoned lands across Toronto. Where many parts of the City have been prohibited from multiplex buildings due to zoning restrictions, this policy is intended to alleviate the housing supply shortage in a city that is fast growing and is projected to continue to do so.
In sounding like a broken record, my opinion is that while this is a good step towards providing diversification and supply of housing, it will not be the bullseye that solves the affordability issue. That topic is a matter worthy of its own discussion, but missing middle housing will inherently unlock land opportunities to face the housing challenges of modern times. In due time, I am hopeful that Toronto’s new policy to legalize multiplexes across the City will come into fruition.
Current housing challenges will continue to be faced by future city developers. That is why it is important for youth to start to learn more about what these forms of missing middle housing are and how they can be implemented in their neighbourhoods. Foundational understandings will unlock more acceptance of this built form and this increased visibility will create more opportunities to build diverse communities. Youth interested in city development could take this knowledge and bring it forth to their future endeavors to introduce creative ways of solving a crucial urban challenge.
If you would like to learn more about the “missing middle” and how it can be effectively established in neighbourhoods, check out this website.
Tina Le is a Program Coordinator at Urban Minds.
