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To be fair, there are huge flat expanses in the Vancouver metro area that have nothing but single-storey, single-family homes on them. It's not really the most

To be fair, there are huge flat expanses in the Vancouver metro area that have nothing but single-storey, single-family homes on them. It's not really the most efficient use of the space.

rtkwe 5y ago
It's what people prefer to live in given options most of the time though. For all the benefits of living in a dense urban core with walkable everything a lot of people like the quieter suburbs. It's also that the story of "making it" usually involves having your own detached family single family house which pushes people to that as well.
- theluketaylor 5y ago
  I always want to push back against the narrative that people's natural state is to want a single family home. Out of control zoning makes single family detached homes the only possibility apart from some specially designated urban cores, so it can easily seem like people only want detached homes. It's easy to look at our current housing stock and think it's what people want, but it's the work of a small group of people enforcing their choices across decades of zoning. There are plenty of people who want a single family home and that's fine. What I'm not fine with is their choice being encoded into city law as the only choice. There is also a knee-jerk reaction across north america to any density beyond single family homes automatically being glass and steel high rises that block the sun. What we really need is missing middle properties, like tri- and quad-plexes. Low and mid rise apartment buildings with plenty of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units. A lot more density than we have in suburbs now, but not crowded or packed. Montreal is one of the few cities in north america that actually has that missing middle housing. It's also the only metro region in Canada that has both mostly contained sprawl and been relatively unaffected by the housing crisis. This is not a coincidence since people have all sorts of choices about what type of housing to live in that fits their budget and lifestyle instead of ones forced by extremely limited zoning options.
- ClumsyPilot 5y ago
  > It's what people prefer to live in given options most of the time though. I am sure many others prefer lower rent or not being homeless
  - rtkwe 5y ago
    I'm not sure it's possible to simply out build the ridiculous amounts of cash sloshing around in the real estate market from speculators and foreign investors using it as a way to move money out of their countries. Even in places with loose zoning rules that allow for almost any building to go up anywhere (eg parts of Texas) house prices are still spiking far faster than people's ability to afford them.
Tiktaalik 5y ago
Yeah this is def the stuff that badly, badly needs to be redeveloped.

To be fair, there are huge flat expanses in the Vancouver metro area that have nothing but single-storey, single-family homes on them. It's not really the most efficient use of the space.

rtkwe 5y ago

It's what people prefer to live in given options most of the time though. For all the benefits of living in a dense urban core with walkable everything a lot of people like the quieter suburbs. It's also that the story of "making it" usually involves having your own detached family single family house which pushes people to that as well.

theluketaylor 5y ago
I always want to push back against the narrative that people's natural state is to want a single family home. Out of control zoning makes single family detached homes the only possibility apart from some specially designated urban cores, so it can easily seem like people only want detached homes. It's easy to look at our current housing stock and think it's what people want, but it's the work of a small group of people enforcing their choices across decades of zoning. There are plenty of people who want a single family home and that's fine. What I'm not fine with is their choice being encoded into city law as the only choice. There is also a knee-jerk reaction across north america to any density beyond single family homes automatically being glass and steel high rises that block the sun. What we really need is missing middle properties, like tri- and quad-plexes. Low and mid rise apartment buildings with plenty of 2, 3 and 4 bedroom units. A lot more density than we have in suburbs now, but not crowded or packed. Montreal is one of the few cities in north america that actually has that missing middle housing. It's also the only metro region in Canada that has both mostly contained sprawl and been relatively unaffected by the housing crisis. This is not a coincidence since people have all sorts of choices about what type of housing to live in that fits their budget and lifestyle instead of ones forced by extremely limited zoning options.
ClumsyPilot 5y ago
> It's what people prefer to live in given options most of the time though. I am sure many others prefer lower rent or not being homeless
- rtkwe 5y ago
  I'm not sure it's possible to simply out build the ridiculous amounts of cash sloshing around in the real estate market from speculators and foreign investors using it as a way to move money out of their countries. Even in places with loose zoning rules that allow for almost any building to go up anywhere (eg parts of Texas) house prices are still spiking far faster than people's ability to afford them.

Tiktaalik 5y ago

Yeah this is def the stuff that badly, badly needs to be redeveloped.