All across Canada, cities are struggling with housing affordability. As we briefly discussed in last week’s article, Housing Affordability in Toronto - A City in Crisis, many middle-income families and residents in Toronto have been unable to enter the real estate market. The missing middle is becoming a topic that all levels of government are beginning to consider as a means of tackling this crisis.
What is the Missing Middle?
The Missing Middle refers to units or housing types that range between single-detached houses to high-rise apartment buildings. These types of units have since gone ‘missing’ or have disappeared from many cities across the world over the last 50 years. One of the key elements of missing middle housing is the need to meet the growing demand for walkable urban living. In Toronto, the missing middle is a central topic for housing affordability, housing choices, and communities. The term ‘missing middle’ was first used by Daniel Parolek, a Californian architect and champion of the International Missing Middle Housing movement. Missing middle housing types include duplexes, triplexes, four-unit multiplexes, rowhouses and townhouses - essentially any building that contains a higher density than a single-family home but a lower density than a mid-rise apartment. The term has also grown popular when referring to a lack of affordable housing options for middle-income families and individuals, both in rental and ownership sectors.
What Caused The Missing Middle?
There are a number of factors that contributed to Toronto’s missing middle. One of the main factors was the city’s new housing supply. Much of the new housing stock in Toronto came in the form of mid and high-rise development. Multi-unit buildings with at least five-storeys rose by 30% while low-rise building stock only rose 3% during 2006 and 2016.
Zoning laws in Toronto are strict and outdated. Navigating zoning restrictions is difficult and time-consuming. Toronto’s zoning rules and regulations has over 2,000 pages! Applying for a space to be rezoned takes a minimum of 9 months to be completed and reviewed and the application process includes a myriad of documents required. In Toronto, almost 200 square kilometres are zoned exclusively for detached single-family homes. This “Yellowbelt”, which is twice the size of Manhattan, is 1.8 times larger than all other areas zoned for housing in the city and encapsulates a third of all residential land in Toronto. The purpose of the Yellowbelt is to respect and preserve the existing physical character of the neighbourhood. However, Toronto’s population continues to grow and Yellowbelt neighbourhoods can’t accommodate the rising need for housing, particularly mid-density housing. With no way to increase the density in Yellowbelt neighbourhoods due to zoning restrictions, the lack of supply in housing for the missing middle continues to plague Toronto.
Toronto also suffers from NIMBYism. NIMBY, which stands for Not In My Back Yard, refers to residents who oppose new developments in their local area and neighbourhoods. NIMBYism carries the connotation that residents only oppose the development because it is close to them and would support such development if it were built further away. For example, in the Long Branch neighbourhood of Toronto, NIMBY activists opposed splitting a residential lot on the basis that it would “threaten their community character in trees”. In the Yonge and Lawrence area, residents opposed the creation of eight semi-detached units because it threatened the community’s character as it was 16 centimetres “too tall” and 13 centimetres “too wide”.
How is the City Addressing This Issue?
Toronto City Council has recently voted in favour of moving forward to amending City policies to allow more mid-density housing. Many advocacy groups and authorities have urged the government to act and expand local housing supplies especially mid-density. In July 2020, the planning division of Toronto released a report, ‘Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods’. This report laid out principles and processes for developing new policies to allow for more housing options in Toronto, specifically targeting Yellowbelt neighbourhoods.
The report proposes new initiatives such as increasing the supply of garden suites and other accessory dwelling units by amending zoning requirements, changing zoning policies to accommodate more units in residential zones within existing buildings that would allow duplexes and triplexes to be built in zones currently only permitted for semi-detached houses. Additionally, the CIty will reduce or eliminate the minimum parking requirements for low-rise apartment buildings and multi-unit dwellings and review the multi-unit zoning standards to encourage development and construction.
While these proposals are a step in the right direction, Toronto is still suffering from a lack of mid-density housing supply in the present. Even with more supply, the housing market will continue to require creative solutions for entering the real estate market. GoCo believes that in the future, affordable housing will be available to all residents in Toronto. For now, explore opportunities for entering the housing market in Toronto with co-ownership.