Between Jobs

By Tracy Hanes

New legislation has helped clear the path for missing-middle projects, but roadblocks remain

Brendan Charters’s company Eurodale Design Build bought a run-down single-family home at 31 Roslin Ave. in Toronto in late 2019. The plan to transform the shabby structure into an attractive triplex made good sense. The Lawrence Park North neighbourhood, like many in the city, lacked family-sized rental suites. What Charters, the development manager at Eurodale, didn’t anticipate was the fierce opposition to the project and the lengthy approvals process that ensued, especially as Eurodale had constructed custom single-family homes on the same street before with no issue.

Apart from a few variances, the project conformed with the City of Toronto’s official plan and zoning bylaw, yet the triplex plan faced backlash from residents, with support from the local councillor. It took an extra year and an additional $100,000 in planning, legal and carrying costs to get the project approved—and only after a successful appeal to the Toronto Local Appeal Body (TLAB). 

Charters still doesn’t understand why his multiplex was limited to a maximum depth of 14 metres, while a single-family home is allowed 17 metres. The triplex, with two 800 sq. ft. two-bedroom units and an upper 1,538 sq. ft. four-bedroom unit, was completed in November 2022 and fits seamlessly into the upscale neighbourhood. It quickly was fully tenanted.

He and others in the housing industry hope the Ontario government’s Bill 23 (the More Homes, Built Faster Act), Ontario’s Supply Action Plan 2022-23 and the new HousingTO Plan will remove many of the roadblocks to building ‘missing-middle’ housing that fills the gap between single detached homes and high-rise towers. Prior land use planning policies concentrated urban growth in limited areas and protected many residential neighbourhoods from modest projects such as triplexes or small rental buildings. But the new plans aim to reduce bureaucratic costs and red tape, promote building near transit and to encourage ‘gentle’ density and affordable housing. The policies would also help to neutralize rampant NIMBYism, one of the biggest threats to affordable housing.

“When we talk about missing-middle housing, it’s not simply a conversation about the built form, it’s really about the people that are missing from our neighbourhoods,” says Councillor Brad Bradford, chair of Toronto’s Planning and Housing Committee. In 2020, Bradford supported bringing a missing-middle pilot project to his Ward 19 (Beaches-East York). “Toronto’s promise is predicated on the notion that anyone who wants to come and live here has the option to do so. In fact, the future success and sustainability of our city depend on this holding true.”

Bradford says a generation has been locked out of entire Toronto neighbourhoods by virtue of the housing that’s actually available. “Despite the significant population growth that we continue to see in Toronto, communities like mine continue to experience population decline because people from all walks of life—new families, recent immigrants, essential workers, artists, young professionals—simply cannot afford to live there. That’s why the City of Toronto is bringing forward a framework to legalize multiplexes that will go beyond notionally allowing for the creation of additional units within existing homes and actually provide the increased permissions that are needed to successfully build these housing forms within our neighbourhoods.” 

‘R’ YOU READY FOR THIS?

Leith Moore, principal and co-founder of R-Hauz, a Toronto-based company that builds prefabricated laneway suites and mass timber avenue housing up to six storeys, is encouraged by the policy changes. In 2022, R-Hauz’s staff grew from 13 to 21 people and added former Evergreen founder Geoff Cape as its CEO. In the last two years, R-Hauz has built a six-storey pilot avenue housing project on Queen St. East in Toronto and a laneway pilot project that was completed in four months. In 2022, it finished its first rapid-build transitional housing project, Passage House, a two-storey, 18-unit mass timber building that was constructed in seven months. 

Moore says for his company in the “small is beautiful realm,” Bill 23 “is a game-changer” in mandating secondary units everywhere. “Toronto has been ahead of the curve on laneway and garden suites, already waived development charges and has been pro-active,” says Moore, who highlights other areas such as Brampton and York Region as having recently embraced ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) zoning, and that the Province is requiring others to follow suit.  

“Intergenerational housing is going to live on the back of ADUs and it’s going to a create a market that companies like mine can scale for. Then we can offer the most cost-effective pricing,” says Moore, who applauds the moves the City of Toronto is making. “I think with the provincial legislation, if we stick to the missing-middle concept, man, it’s exciting! I’m looking forward to seeing what Toronto is doing and what will show up in every municipality.

“With my pilots, I really worked with the City and showed the hardships of not having the zoning. There was a whole host of barriers,” adds Moore, who offers kudos to Bradford and Toronto’s Chief Planner, Greg Lintern, in trying to navigate those barriers. “I think this year the city is going to address the next round of realities and have proper zoning on the avenues and is looking hard at ways to open missing-middle housing.”

R-Hauz has a busy 2023 ahead, with regular housing projects, non-profit housing, as well as lane and garden suites on the books for clients. Moore says he’s been overwhelmed with how much the business has grown in a short period of time. 

“Our prefabricated/pre-designed system is really appealing to the non-profit sector,” he notes. “It’s faster and cheap, it’s all wood and very sustainable, and is moving to carbon sustainability objectives for municipalities. It’s a turn-key solution.” 

CRAFT SKILLS

Heather Rolleston, principal at Quadrangle Architects, says missing middle is a term that “is thrown around a lot and people lump it with mid-rise and smaller projects, and that’s a bit of a misnomer. Missing middle also has to do with price point and offering an option between houses and high-rise condos.” It describes a range of housing types that has gone missing in the last 60 to 70 years, she explains.

One project Rolleston believes exemplifies missing-middle housing is Leaside Common by Gairloch Developments at 1720 Bayview Ave., a nine-storey, 200-unit building that is 103 metres in length. It features textured modern masonry with a design that took cues from a block of 10 heritage four-plexes across the street. Unit prices started in the $500,000s. Having a larger building like Leaside Common makes it more financially feasible for a developer, says Rolleston, as they can provide more units. Small boutique buildings have proven to be more difficult in terms of approvals and costs. 

It has been far easier to get approvals for high-rise condo towers, she says. Mid-rise projects are more nuanced and challenging and require a closer relationship with neighbours. Rolleston also designed Biblio, a small boutique project on Queen St. E. by NVSBLE Development Inc.

“There’s an example of a project you think should have been given an easy ride,” Rolleston said in January. “The red carpet should have been rolled out for that project, but it’s been a tough slog getting it approved and it’s not fully approved yet. It has tiny protrusions on the angular plane on the north side, no shadow impact and those are very tiny issues.”

Craft (also by Gairloch) is an eight-storey luxury mid-rise project also mired in a lengthy process. “Approvals have been challenging and very time-consuming. Craft doesn’t have a decision from the OLT (Ontario Land Tribunal) yet and it’s been almost a year since the hearing (in March 2022). This is not a large project, in an area where people need housing, in an area where we had great community consultation.”

Rolleston is hopeful developers will see improvements in timelines. “Right now, missing-middle projects that are not of a certain size are taking hits from all sides. Construction prices are high, trades are stretched thin, approval times are long. If one of those prongs can be eased, it’s going to help. We are going to see a bit of a market correction in terms of construction costs. I’m hoping a couple of missing-middle projects that are on hold right now will be able to start.”

Rolleston says developers that take on these projects should be commended, given the challenges. Relationships with the community are going to be more personal than with larger projects, and “with these developments, you have to try to snuggle in with the streetscape and, in many cases, mimic what’s going on next door. There are lots of transition issues, which are sensitive issues. You have to go in with your eyes open.”

Bill 23’s mandate is very clear, says Rolleston, who is optimistic that it and Toronto’s new plan should cut through minor objections, as up until now, ratepayers with deep pockets could create a lot of delays and extra expenses for a developer. 

Rolleston says great missing-middle projects offer more than exceptional built forms and cites Reina, a brick and precast condo project on The Queensway, as an excellent example. It was created by the first all-female development team in Canada and is a full-block, nine-storey building with 197 units. 

“The developers really had a sense for the feeling of community within the building. They did a lot of outreach and had an ideas competition for university and college students. Some of the amenities were thinking outside the box—messy rooms for kids, a sharing library for kitchen appliances, a snack shack. That feeling of community within the building itself is a key ingredient to missing middle, not just ticking all the boxes to massing and transitions. It’s giving something back. One of the positive things of Bill 23 is that developers who are creative and game will be able to see opportunities.” 

FUNCTION IN THE JUNCTION

Allowing triplexes in residential neighbourhoods (yellow belt areas) is one of the good things the province is doing, says Gabriel Fain of Gabriel Fain Architects. But the ability to build laneway houses and small multiplexes without a lengthy planning process is just part of the bigger issue, he says. While the province is trying to encourage more buildings of six to 12 storeys, they remain extremely challenging, says Fain, with limited height, scale and density and, more often than not, opposition from neighbours. “Generally, ratepayers have so much political power and pull,” Fain observes. 

With immigration increasing and the province’s expectation to build 1.5 million more homes in 10 years, more Toronto housing is desperately needed, he says. “Where are these people going to live? Why aren’t we building crazy density around transit hubs?” 

While Fain says there is enough land in the city to accommodate a lot of that need, half the transit hubs are in neighbourhoods, and ratepayer backlash is formidable. 

Instead of putting towers in localized places, Fain would like to see beautiful avenues “like you see in every European city,” lined with six- and 12-storey buildings, such as along St. Clair Avenue. “But you can’t have that and all these zoning restrictions.” Fain says six-storey buildings are incredibly difficult to make work in Toronto at the present time, with rising interest rates and increased costs.

A lot of acceptance of such projects comes down to architecture. He says until recently, a lot of new building design was lifeless and didn’t integrate well into existing neighbourhoods. “You had to deal with market conditions at the time and people wanted glass buildings. There is a trend towards more sustainable buildings, more thoughtful buildings. We have to get away from all that glass. That shift will happen. We are starting to do projects that have meaningful dialogue with neighbourhoods.”

The Junction is one of the up-and-coming Toronto neighbourhoods that offers missing-middle opportunities, says Fain. “We have a new project there and we took photos of the buildings on Dundas St.—some are incredible 100-year-old brick buildings—and did a take on our building in a contemporary way, and it’s all brick. When you have a building like that, it makes sense and looks like it’s always been there.”

But while Fain says architects can shape buildings, it’s up to urban planners to make a bigger difference. “With rising costs, we can’t build what the city has been asking for, with a lot of terracing. That is highly inefficient and drives up costs. Every bylaw that shapes a building has a cost implication.” 

In many cases, terracing is done to protect “someone in one house who may get a little bit of shade in their yard at noon,” Fain says. “We have to shift how we are thinking about building. There is so much to unpack in what the province is doing.”

Fain believes private developers have been the ones being tasked with solving a political and societal problem. “In the past, government used to create social housing and that’s now in the hands of private developers. You can’t paint them as the enemy when they are the ones trying to find the solution.” 

Fain’s practice recently designed a four-plex in the Rhodes and Dundas area. “It is a good example of working with neighbours and working with the city. The shadowing question came up and we had to shape the building to mitigate that. That makes for a challenging build. The owners are beyond happy. The parents have accessibility issues and moved into the ground-floor unit, two units have been rented to tenants and I believe the homeowners took the fourth unit.”

Charters agrees that having a building that respects the neighbourhood context is important. His Roslin St. triplex presents as an upscale single-family home similar to others Eurodale designed and built on that street and surrounding ones.

“Inside, it performs above its weight class, and we are proud to be able to use this project as an example of what is possible in our city without disrupting the character and fabric the current residents are clutching onto,” he says. “Missing-middle housing in this low-rise built form is a great alternative to high-rise condos and a building type that fits in very well with its surroundings.” 

Despite the headaches involved in getting the triplex completed, mainly due to local residents’ “fear of the unknown,” Charters plans to keep building similar projects and is hopeful the new Ontario and City of Toronto policies will smooth the process. And if it’s still challenging, he’ll press on regardless.

“I want to be on the right side of history,” he says.