The minister has threatened actual action in a letter sent to municipalities last October, but so far the @bcndpcaucus.bsky.social has not taken this step despite municipalities scaling this housing form back and introducing additional requirements. esquimalt.ca.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=...

One of the big reasons middle housing is missing is that local govs' treat them like they're six to 26 storey builds, micromanaging them with conflicting directions. There's not enough money in middle housing to allow for this, so builders avoid them. The latest recommendation:

Fascinating to see a breakdown on who provides feedback to local governments as it clearly shows why they continue to restrict housing. Only 413 of Esquimalt's 17,533 residents responded to their survey on missing middle homes. The comfortably housed (owners) made up 80% of responses.

Research by Urban Systems for the City of Victoria's new (2024) development cost charges show that homes built would fall by 6% by 2050 b/c of the $5-10K new DCC. Add on all of the other new taxes, CRD fee & policies (there are many) w/ this new $10-20K fee for parking, we'll see a further drop.

Unless they realign, it’ll be 40-80 years before that sidewalk is widened as the city waits for new residents to pay for it when the properties are redeveloped. Sidewalks are tight up against property lines, except in a couple spots, and they won’t underground those power lines b/c of huge $$$.

Browsing @conradspeckert.bsky.social's www.singlestair.ca (a must for housing advocates/designers/builders) & came across the BEST rendering. Why don't governments let us build homes where people can happily read books and shove chips into their faces in bright, airy, socially connected homes?

In small footprint, taller buildings, garbage rooms can exceed 10% of a storey. All bike rooms in small SES builds here would exceed this. And if the munis find total storage and "broom closets" add to more than 10% of a floor, then absolutely they would treat storage as a major occupancy.

So no coffee shops or restaurants, fine. Let's build one of these very safe, more socially connected, brighter, happier buildings with just apartments! Hold on! BCBC's Group F, Div 3 includes parking and storage rooms as being a "light industrial" major occupancy. So what does that mean?

Great! I can build single egress apartments and condos if I follow the rigorous additional requirements in that section. Hold on! This section in the existing building code says that if a building has another "major occupancy" in it, it is no longer considered "only" residential occupancy.

To make this change, @davidebybc.bsky.social's gov. deposited a ministerial order with 3.2.10 added to the B.C. building code. The key part here is that single egress buildings must be considered to have "only residential occupancy" (apartments or condos).

Getting close to being finished -- 9 homes replace one. We call this little community Folk. I'll have more info soon, but it's pretty wonderful to experience the direct connection between the front doors and balconies and the sidewalk, which aren't buried behind driveways and garages.

We spent a lot of time on the interiors of these homes, both on the adaptable suites and the family sized homes. One of my favourite features is fitting in a couple of bonus spaces (office and rec/TV room) down the hall from the living room to keep the painful lego pieces out of the way.

Victoria is blessed with two great car share services -- an incredible amenity for people who live their lives without owning a car. We partnered with Modo to bring one of their first fully electric vehicles to the city and installed a charger right out front (www.modo.coop).

Convenient, one touch roll-up garage door entrance, with automatic lighting, pull down cord reels and a slat wall for hooks, shelves and storage -- this bike room has it all. The cord reels, in particular, allow for easier charging access in case the space is full of wide cargo bikes and trikes.

We're one of the first in the city to build without parking, so we focused considerably on amenities for people to not need a car. That started with the bike room.

We thought about how people get around the site & how they might subtly bump into each other & have longevity inducing little conversations. We designed a wide walkway to the bike garage and suites, oriented the entrances along the path & placed the mail area and refuse area along that pathway

A lot of push and pull, but we landed on a building location and tiering system that both increased onsite soil and provided a variety of social areas. We also are big on kids and families, so sprinkled in a number of stepping rocks for kids to play on without trampling the shrubs (too much😄).

Initially, we struggled with the topography of the site. The property was on a rock leading to a tiered yard and a massive cedar in the corner. We wanted to take advantage of the geography to create levels of social spaces, as well as preserve the natural beauty and shade of that tree.

When we started our concept was simple: Let's design a building for people of all ages and use the space typically dedicated to cars and parking for people and social connection. Inspired by @happycities.com, we got to work with our team at Christine Lintott Architects and Biophilia Collective.

Welcome to Kindred! A six home houseplex in the heart of walkable, bikeable, transitable VicWest in #yyj. These homes took 30 months for rezoning and permitting and 18 months to build. Now this building is home to 15 adults and children of all ages. www.lapishomes.com/projects/633...

The crossing has a specific bike button that controls the pedestrian crossing light as well. (The pathway through Doncaster green here is also super muddy and slippery, so this may be an intersection for a planned formal cycling connection).

We have a remote-operated garage door here, near the recycling/garbage area and mailboxes. Kind of the hub of activity in the morning and evening. It also ties into access to all of the entrances. Design is geared around shared circulation to create opportunities for social connection.

The site plan? Yep, it's a photo taken from the corner, right around where we have this upper sitting space down towards the centre (circled with an arrow). We modified the final design to minimize the impact to surrounding trees but held to the tiered multiple social spaces intent of the design.

These policies & new fees are constantly being added. Saanich, as an example, required us to cap a terminated service with this $300+ piece of equipment rather than a typical cap that is 99.9% effective and every other jurisdiction uses. It's this type of thing that is everywhere around housing.

920 is great for double window walls. They give so much flexibility to minimize wasted hallway space. I’ve seen a really livable 3 bed, 1 bath in about 750-800 square feet (with a roughly 280 sq ft living area and kitchen). I built this 690 square foot 2 bed, 1 bath, which works quite well too.

Our exterior space is all about pedestrians and encouraging social connection: wide walkway, shared backyard with kids play area, large community eating area and an upper sitting area -- as well as some semi private covered porches for each home. Here's one of the backyard.

We use Pro Slat on our back walls for shelving and hooks so people can store smaller mobility devices and equipment (scooters, kids bikes, strollers).

We're not in the US and only do smaller builds, but myself and another developer have been proposing and building parking free buildings, with largest in city (per home) bike/etc storage. This one's our recently finished sixplex. Cargo bike spaces, 14 standard, room for strollers, scooters...

An absolute killer: