Laneway Housing

Since July 2009, laneway housing has been permitted in Vancouver’s RS-1 and RS-5 zoned single-family neighbourhoods. Laneway houses are detached dwellings located in the typical garage area of a single-family lot, facing the laneway and maintaining backyard open space. A minimum of one parking space must be provided on each lot with a laneway house, and many laneway houses include an enclosed garage. Both contemporary and traditional designs are permitted, in single-storey and partial upper-storey configurations.

Homeowners may add a laneway house while retaining the existing main house, or a laneway house may be built alongside a new main house. A laneway house can be the third dwelling unit on a site, in addition to the main house and a secondary suite. Limited to rental or family use only, with no permitted strata-titling, laneway housing is intended to respond to the need for diverse kinds of rental housing in Vancouver.

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