Putting Affordability in the Missing Middle

Housing affordability is a crisis across Canada, with all levels of government looking for solutions. For years, planners, architects, housing advocates and experts have been calling for “Missing Middle” housing, ranging from garden suites to triplexes to townhouses and 6-story buildings added to existing residential neighbourhoods to increase housing supply and offer more affordable home options.  In response, some municipalities and provincial governments are acting to end exclusionary zoning and are introducing programs and reforming policy to add “missing middle” housing to our residential neighbourhoods.

But will these programs yield truly affordable housing? Early evidence indicates that missing middle developments are generating market-rate products and, in some US cities, eliminating single family zoning restrictions is pushing up land and property prices, continuing to render these neighbourhoods exclusive and out of reach to low-income, under-represented and racialized residents. If we want affordable and equitable housing to be part of the missing middle, we need to do more than change zoning.