Yesterday, I asked this on Twitter:

And then I learned that Victoria-based Aryze is already doing it:

I was a little surprised by some of the numbers here, namely municipal fees. But that is not the point here. The point is that this is a great idea and that, judging from the comments on Twitter, many people seem to want this.

The obvious benefit is that it allows consumers to better understand where their money is going. But I also think that by showing people all of the costs that get levied on new housing, it could benefit the overall development industry.

What do you think? Should developers in Toronto adopt a similar approach? Let me know in the comments below.

The City of Victoria, BC did a good thing last week: It passed its "Missing Middle Housing Initiative", which means that up 6 dwelling units (their language not mine) will soon be permissible on every single-family lot in the city, and up to 12 dwelling units will be permissible in "corner townhouses". These land uses changes come into effect on Sunday, March 12, 2023 (45 days after adoption).

Here on the blog, we've been talking about this shift toward intensifying our single-family neighborhoods for many years. And momentum clearly continues to grow. At face value, this appears to be one of the more enlightened moves by a city: 6 homes and 12 homes. Though these headline numbers may have something to do with the average lot sizes in Victoria. Either way, the devil is in the details. And here are some of those details:

What is positive to see is that a number of other zoning requirements have been updated. Because it's not enough to just say, "Hey, we're going to allow more homes on each lot. There, we've done something. Developers, go and do that." Here, the allowable height has been increased, setbacks have been decreased, and the floor space ratio (site density) has been increased from 0.5 to 1.1 (assuming you do at least one amenity contribution).

I don't know if this is exactly right and if it's everything that developers will need in order to start building a lot more missing middle housing in Victoria. (If you're a local developer, please let me know in the comment section below.) But I think it's certainly a step in the right direction.

I am a big fan of Victoria-based developer Aryze. And their Pearl Block project is a good example of why. Developed on an awkward triangular lot that had been sitting vacant for nearly 65 years and that presumably every other developer had been overlooking, the project brought six family-oriented townhouses to the Oaklands neighborhood of Victoria, BC.

Each of the towns has 3 bedrooms. Each has a living room facing the street (but with privacy from the neighbor). Each has a large rooftop deck (with 5 foot parapet walls so no kids fall over). And according to the developer, each sold for less than the average price of a single-family home in the Oaklands area. Not surprisingly, the project also won all sorts of awards.

It is a great example of the kind of beautiful and mid-market missing middle housing that so many of us are always talking about. Why build 1 home when you can build 6? Why build 6 homes when you can build 18? Still, there remains far too many obstacles in the way of any sort of housing that doesn't conform to the status-quo:

It shouldn't be this difficult. And it shouldn't take this long. Actually, let me rephrase this. It can't be this difficult and it can't this long; that is, if we're expecting to actually come close to meeting the demand for new housing. There is no great mystery as to why the missing middle is, you know, missing. We made it that way.

Keep up the great work team Aryze.

Photography: Ema Peter via D'Arcy Jones Architects