this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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The solution to the housing crisis isn't detached homes. It's higher density housing, better rent control, disinsentizing house ownership as an investment.
While I agree that SFH aren't the solution, what @rab is suggesting could be part of the solution. NJB talked about Streetcar Suburbs, which often consist of these types of homes but are illegal to build pretty much everywhere in Canada. Wartime houses (what I've always called them, I've never heard "Strawberry box houses" before) usually don't meet minimum lot size, minimum lot coverage, minimum setback, minimum parking, etc. as required in "modern" zoning, plus the roads they're built on are often too narrow to meet current engineering standards.
If people insist on having a SFH, these types of homes should be possible but our zoning has over-regulated and made it illegal to build anything different.
No, I think such low density housing is actually the cause of the problem, at least around the big cities. Toronto already has some pretty terrible transit times at the average being something like 100 minutes each way due to the distance from one's home to their work place. Increasing density is the only option, though as a compromise, I think townhouses are extremely good.
Get rid of front yards and just make all the houses long, and you can fit as much as 3 units with the same or greater floor space as one of those houses on a single plot of land. Combine that with tons of mid-rise apartments and independent housing is accessible to even those stuck on minimum wage jobs.
Wartime houses are not low density though, they're medium density. Many are higher density than modern townhouses due to their efficient use of space (small rooms, tiny yards, limited parking, narrow streets, etc). Now, can those efficiencies be applied to townhouses? Yes! For example, the old rowhouses in Philadelphia or terrace homes in London, and these are an even more efficient use of space than wartime houses.
And once again, I'm not agreeing with @rab that we need to build wartime housing en masse. However, as NJB points out, these kind of homes are very desirable and I think there is a place for some efficient SFHs in the solution to this problem.
The investment part is the problem. Detached homes work in small towns for sure.
I'm probably spoiled but I grew up on an acreage and I've lived in an apartment for the last 10 years and I hate it.
Those aren't only two options. May I present the Missing Middle. While high-density doesn't make a lot of sense in small towns due to the high per-unit cost to build, medium-density like townhouses, duplexes/triplexes/quads, and lower-rise apartment are actually cheaper per-unit due to shared infrastructure.
Why is the solution to housing always tiny dense condos!
Is this a serious question or are you just angry with the universe?