With the growing number of immigrants coming to Toronto, the city is in desperate need of new forms of housing. New housing would not only provide a healthy living environment for newcomers, but the building and subsequent occupation of which would contribute significantly to the economic development of the city.

Currently, Toronto has more than 2400 publically owned laneways, which cover around 250 kilometers of linear space and range in widths between three and six meters. The current use for laneways in the city is mainly for pedestrians and cyclists. But why not imagine something more for these laneways? The creation of laneway suites would not only help the housing crisis that the city is currently facing, but also benefit the surrounding communities by increasing the number of eyes on the streets and allowing for multiple generations of families to grow in the same neighbourhoods.

But just what are laneway suites? They are secondary units created as an addition to an existing house. Though smaller in size, they are one to two storeys tall and can have up to two bedrooms and one parking space. Laneway suites are generally created behind a house and can be used for multi-generational living as well as rental units.

The City of Toronto’s planning division held their first public consultation meeting on Nov 30^th 2017, where they presented laneway suites to the public, and asked for feedback. The results showed that 93% of the people support laneway suites. 40% of the homeowners said they wanted to use laneway suites for their extended families, whereas 53% said they wanted to use them as rental units. Some pilot projects that are around the city include our very own university campus! University of Toronto is currently piloting around 30 laneway suites that may be rented out to full-time professors and students in the near future.

As Toronto grows and changes, we must start looking towards more affordable, family-oriented housing strategies. As I have noted, laneway suites come with many benefits:  if used as a rental unit, they help the homeowners financially, are smaller in size, and generally tend to be easier to afford for small families. With housing costs only going up, and living expenses at one of the highest in Canada, affordability is crucial to new housing projects and I believe that laneway suites are an excellent option for our city’s future.