Canada has been imitating its larger neighbor to the south for decades. At least when it comes to high-rise buildings. Building land is incredibly expensive in big cities, so when it comes to offices or apartments, every investor knows and still knows only the upward trend. But office towers or residential towers are slowly losing their appeal, and people have felt that there is something oppressive about living in a giant vertical cage for decades. The American dream, the independent family home, has also become a dream for many Canadians.
BBC Make it sound In her article on this topic, Angela Jiang, who lived for a long time on the 68th floor of a high-rise building in downtown Toronto. Five years ago, he filled up and moved into a four-apartment apartment building on the outskirts of town.
“I liked that everything here was well ventilated, I didn't have to take the elevator and I had a big balcony,” he said of the benefits of the change.
Not long ago, the Canadian government came up with a pilot plan that specifically supports these housing units consisting of a small number of apartments. It is seen as a kind of intermediate category between multi-apartment high-rise buildings and large single-family homes. The government has allocated six billion Canadian dollars (1 Canadian dollar = 268 Hungarian forints) to alleviate the housing crisis, and announced that it expects local governments to issue building permits mainly for homes in this category.
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So far, only a few provinces have welcomed the plan, but British Columbia's leaders have already taken action: they have announced that they support the construction of five- or six-apartment housing units in settlements with more than 5,000 residents. However, First Nations in Ontario and Alberta are not so keen on making it mandatory to build four-unit homes.
“Local residents always know best what residents there need, and we do not agree that it is mandatory to build four-apartment homes where that does not make sense,” Ontario Governor Doug Ford said.
He pointed out that this plan is dangerous, because it actually completely disrupts the structure of the Canadian Garden City areas. There, the majority of detached family homes are located, the layout is very airy, and you do not feel any pressure due to the fact that the houses are very close to each other.
It is interesting to know that in Toronto between 1929 and 2023, it was practically prohibited to build such small housing units. However, the authorities' position has now changed and regulations have been rewritten that specifically allow the establishment of such residential properties, even in large inland areas.
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In the French-speaking regions of Canada, such as Montreal, the situation is quite the opposite and has always been so. Apparently, due to European traditions, smaller and more comfortable buildings are popular.
In Toronto, the ban was imposed because there was a widespread — otherwise false — opinion that people crowded into high-rise buildings are usually from the poorer classes, especially immigrants, who are, so to speak, just a problem, said architect Alex Bozicovich. The question here, of course, is whether the Canadian government will stop there, or whether this new leniency and support is just part of a broader, comprehensive housing reform, which society is eagerly awaiting.
However, it is not yet known whether investors will support these plans. After all, building a high-rise house on the same plot of land can always be more profitable than building a flat semi-detached house, even if six apartments are built in it.
“Why bother with a four-apartment project when I can build a 150-apartment building on the same spot,” grumbled Brandon Donnelly, president of investment firm Slate Asset Management.
Others drew attention to the fact that banks are not well prepared to finance small housing units. Presumably, they need to develop new banking products for these properties. The same applies to real estate developers, as the majority are accustomed to large projects. According to Canadian real estate sources, since the program was announced last year, a total of just one hundred applications have been submitted for such four-apartment condominiums in Toronto and Vancouver, and for it to be truly successful, thousands would need to be reached.
