British Columbia

Our friends at Happy Cities have crafted a one-of-a-kind toolkit designed to enhance social well-being through thoughtful multi-unit housing designs, supporting diverse individuals of all ages, backgrounds, abilities, household sizes, and incomes. As they describe it:

“Over 2023 and 2024, Happy Cities, Hey Neighbour Collective, and researchers from Simon Fraser University worked together with five local municipalities and one First Nation to co-create new policies to encourage sociable multi-unit housing design.

“Building on the learnings from this project—and nearly a decade of prior research—Happy Cities and Hey Neighbour Collective have published a new design toolkit of evidence-based strategies to nurture social wellbeing multi-unit housing. The design principles and actions equip policy makers, planners, designers, and community members to build and advocate for more socially connected, inclusive communities, drawing on long-term research and engagement with residents and housing industry actors—including non-profit housing providers, city planners, architects, and market developers.

“In the face of growing challenges—including an acute housing affordability crisis, extreme weather, social isolation, and an aging population—our social connections are one of the strongest resources we have to chart a more sustainable, resilient path forward.”

Download the Toolkit.

Download (PDF)

Discover the New Standardized Designs for Gentle Density Homes in B.C.

In September 2024, the Government of British Columbia released a series of free, standardized designs to help facilitate the development of gentle density homes. These designs are versatile, using a “building blocks” approach that allows for customization. You can mix and match elements to add features like garages or additional bedrooms and stack up to three storeys high. The collection includes a range of options from duplexes and triplexes to quadplexes and townhouses, with various roof shapes and exterior finishes to blend seamlessly into existing neighborhoods. There are also designs for accessory dwelling units, like laneway homes, and adaptable cottages perfect for aging in place.

All designs comply with the 2024 B.C. Building Code and can be tailored to fit different lot sizes and site conditions across the province. The design files are available for free download and have been compiled into a convenient catalogue for easy browsing.

These standardized designs are expected to save time and reduce costs for local governments and builders, speeding up approvals and construction. This initiative is a key component of the Homes for People action plan, aimed at unlocking more homes faster by creating favorable conditions for rapid housing development.

Click the image to view the designs and access the full document.

Name: Happy Cities

About: Happy Cities is an urban planning, design, and engagement consulting firm with a mission to create happier, healthier, more inclusive communities. As part of its housing practice, Happy Cities advises municipalities, developers, and housing providers on strategies to support resident wellbeing throughout development and after move-in.

The organization’s Happy Homes research shows how intentional design can reduce social isolation, support age-friendly homes, and boost community resilience in multi-unit buildings, culminating in a toolkit to help housing providers turn wellbeing evidence into action. Happy Cities has applied these design strategies to developments like Our Urban Village Cohousing, an innovative missing middle project that offers a promising solution to Vancouver’s housing and social isolation crises. Along with showcasing the many benefits of gentle density, the project identifies solutions to reducing some of the financial and policy barriers that can impede community-oriented housing models.

For more information, head to their website.

As Vancouver grows and evolves, we need to ensure that there are housing options that meet the needs of the diverse households that live and work here, including more “missing middle” housing options. With the help of Quickviz, the City of Vancouver developed this useful video that illustrates the changes proposed to allow more of this type housing in low density neighbourhoods across the city as part of the implementation of the Vancouver Plan. The animation depicts a standard block with a variety of housing options, including multiplexes (buildings with up to 6 units on a single lot).

As Vancouver grows and evolves, we need to ensure that there are housing options that meet the needs of the diverse households that live and work here, including more “missing middle” housing. With the help of Uytae Lee from About Here, the City of Vancouver explains what the “missing middle” is, and why they are exploring changes to allow more of this type of housing, including multiplexes (buildings with up to 6 units on a single lot), in low density neighbourhoods across the city as part of the implementation of the Vancouver Plan.

Download (PDF)

Nestled near the Elders Centre in the Tl’etinqox Community, six cabin-like homes are placed to form a circle to represent the four sacred directions, the cycle of the seasons, the cycle of life and more, and to encourage community gathering.

Tl’etinqox began to develop Elders Cabins in 2019 to honour the intentions, prayers, and needs of their Elders by providing safe and affordable living spaces for them to age in place, at the heart of the community. Elder tenancy applications opened for the cabins in September 2020.

Download (PDF)

Key insights:

In November of 2023, the province of British Columbia released their “Homes for People Plan” that drastically reduced zoning and municipal barriers to the creation of gentle density homes. In summary, new legislation requires all local governments in British Columbia to update their zoning bylaws to allow up to three to four units in all single-family zones and up to six units for properties with frequent bus service.

This resource, developed by the province, is intended to help local governments and their community members understand the legislative changes introduced related to small-scale, multi-unit housing (SSMUH).

Note: The information in this tool kit is for guidance only and is not a substitute for provincial
legislation. It is not legal advice and should not be relied on for that purpose.

Download (PDF)

Key insights:

This guide paper addresses the ownership and operations of gentle density housing in British Columbia. It was created in collaboration with industry experts and includes key recommendations to remove barriers that reduce the viability and uptake of gentle density housing.

The actionable recommendations contained in this guide paper provide specific and clear direction to the responsible parties on how they can support the removal of barriers and enhance the viability of gentle density projects for the homeowner-developer in British Columbia.

Supporting and incentivizing homeowner-developer-led projects is, in the opinion of the roundtable, the most likely model to succeed at implementation at scale, while putting community and affordability first.

Download (PDF)

Key insights:

This Small Housing guidance paper presents research findings from interviews, focus groups and a multi-stakeholder roundtable, including the participation of industry experts, building officials and key government representatives to unpack current barriers to adoption and explore approaches to accelerating the use of offsite construction to grow gentle density supply.

This guidance paper provides background information, identifies key barriers and offers recommendations in seven areas:

Government Initiatives
Industry Collaboration and Knowledge Building
Municipal Toolkits for Offsite-Ready Local Governments
Offsite-Ready Construction Financing
Pilot Studies for Modular Streamlining
Standard Design Catalog and Design Competition
Enterprise Zone Incentives

Download (PDF)

Key insights:

This Small Housing Guidance Paper presents recommendations that will assist various actors involved in planning, designing and constructing energy efficient buildings, especially as it relates to new gentle density development.

It provides background information and identifies challenges and recommendations in eight key areas:

Building industry productivity and collaboration
Expertise gap in building sector
Training and skills development
Standardization and process improvement
Challenges with legislation and bylaws
Focus on embodied carbon
Energy modeling and verification
Infrastructure and utilities

British Columbia

Are you a planner?

Do you have resources to share?

Are you a planner?

Do you have resources to share?

Are you a planner?

Do you have resources to share?

Are you a planner?

Do you have resources to share?

Are you a planner?

Do you have resources to share?

Are you a planner?

Do you have resources to share?