'Making Room Housing Program' Would Allow New Density in Vancouver

Duplexes, rowhouses, and small apartment buildings will be on the zoning menu for "housing choice neighborhoods" around Vancouver, thanks to the city's new "Making Room Housing Program."

1 minute read

August 22, 2018, 1:00 PM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


Vancouver Townhomes

Imagenet / Shutterstock

Dan Bertolet explains the latest in planning and housing policy processes in the expensive city of Vancouver, British Columbia:

In June, Vancouver, BC, grabbed the spotlight with the announcement of its “Making Room” strategy to open up single-family areas citywide to more duplexes, rowhouses, and small apartment buildings. City officials plan to work out the details in an 18-month process, but the strategy has already sparked controversy.

According to Bertolet, "zoning liberalization is long overdue" in Vancouver, so with that frame, this isn't strictly a news article. Bertolet praises the potential impact of the zoning changes, which "could raise Vancouver’s production of new homes by three quarters."

To place the Making Room Housing Program [pdf] in context of zoning liberalization processes in other expensive cities located in Cascadia, Bertolet also compares Vancouver to Portland and Seattle.

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