As many of you already know, the City of Toronto is currently studying ways to increase the supply of "missing middle" type housing in our low-rise neighborhoods. This week they published a new report called, "Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods." The Globe and Mail has already written about it over here, but I would like to share some numbers from the report to help put things into context. All of these are verbatim from the City's report. I'm just arranging them neatly into blocks.

Development applications active between 2014 and 2018 were reviewed to identify those representing "missing middle" housing typologies, i.e. more than 1 proposed residential unit and 3-6 storeys. 144 "missing middle" applications out of 508 total active applications in Neighbourhoods were identified during this time frame.

The missing middle applications represent 5,090 units approved or built in Neighbourhoods. The vast majority of these applications—94% of applications and 89% of proposed residential units—are 4 storeys or less, consistent with the general height limits for Neighbourhoods in the Official Plan.

Of the 5,090 proposed residential units, almost half were part of large site redevelopment projects, often townhouse subdivisions on former school sites in inner suburban areas of
Scarborough, Etobicoke, and North York. The remaining half of proposed missing middle type units were in lowrise intensification and infill of existing housing, with activity clustered primarily within the former City of Toronto.

The approximately 5,000 missing middle type units in development applications represent
approximately 1% of the 400,000 total proposed residential units in projects active between 2014 and 2018, while the approximately 2,500 net new units added through as-of-right building permits from 2011 to 2018 represent only 0.6% of the total proposed residential units.

One percent. I guess that's why it's called the missing middle.