Daily insights for city builders, delivered every morning at 6 AM ET. I’m Brandon Donnelly — a Toronto-based real estate developer and founder of Globizen. I’ve been writing here since 2013.

PANEL: New ADU Types and Toronto’s Missing Middle

It has been a while since I wrote about laneway housing, so here’s a panel that I’m going to be speaking on this Thursday alongside Gregg Lintern, Mary-Margaret McMahon (former Toronto City Councillor), and Craig Race. It is being organized by Lanescape.

As most of you know, I’ve been a vocal supporter of laneway housing in Toronto. So I am, of course, thrilled that it has now become a reality. But I must confess that I am less enthusiastic about the broader “missing middle” solution that everyone in the city is enamored with right now.

The problem is that our cost structures make it exceedingly difficult to develop this scale of housing. I have friends who are trying and they can’t make the math work. Maybe this isn’t the case in all cities, but it’s certainly a challenge here.

If you’d like a free ticket to this Thursday’s panel, use the promo code: SLATE.

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