As Vancouver
struggles with increasingly high housing prices, there is a growing interest in
what other world cities are doing to maintain housing affordability.
Should we
build more government housing like Singapore and Hong Kong? Should we put
restrictions on foreign buyers as they do in Sydney? Should we increase
property taxes on vacant units, like they are now doing in Jerusalem? (even
though vacant units place fewer demands on municipal services than occupied
housing.)
While I will
leave it to the urban land economists and others to debate the pros and cons of
these and other fiscal interventions, I believe Vancouver could offer more
affordable housing choices by allowing alternative forms of housing found elsewhere
around the world.
Recently, I journeyed
through the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark with Vancouver architect Richard
Henriquez. While we agreed Vancouver could offer these countries lessons when
it comes to the design of new communities, we were impressed with forms of
housing not generally being built in our region.
In future
columns I will present some of the fascinating developments we saw in Germany
and Denmark. However, this week I would like to share two fascinating Dutch
housing solutions: street rowhouses and an unusual floating home community.
Unlike
Vancouver, where row houses are nearly always built by developers as part of a
condominium or rental complex, in Holland rowhouses are often individually designed
and built on small narrow lots. These homes are privately owned, like a single
family house, and not sold as part of a condominium. In most
jurisdictions there are rigid zoning and design guidelines to ensure a
coordinated street appearance. However, there are exceptions, where the rules
are less strict.
On an outing to IJburg, a new satellite town about 20 minutes by tram and 30 minutes by bicycle from Amsterdam city centre, we came across a delightful street lined with unique, individually designed row houses.
I first
visited IJburg four years earlier and will never forget meeting the government
official in charge of planning and development. I was impressed by how much
land the government owned and asked how it was acquired. “We make it” was his
response.
One day,
IJburg will be home to 45,000 residents on ten man-made islands being created
by dredging IJburg lake. Six islands have already been completed and the town offers
a broad mix of housing, commercial spaces and amenities. Well not so broad.
There are few structures more than 8 storeys in height.
While the
community includes single family houses, market and non-market ownership and
rental developments, I was particularly impressed with the streets lined with
colourful, individually designed two, three and four level attached homes.
In Holland
and many other countries, individually constructed attached rowhouses are the
equivalent of the detached houses built throughout Metro Vancouver. However, unlike
typical Canadian houses, the homes are built right up to the sideyards, and
often the front property line as well. As a result,
one can create 2,000+ square foot homes on lots as small as 1500 square feet
and less. The resulting density is significantly higher than the density of
newer single family neighbourhoods around Metro.
Some of the
IJburg homes looked like the sort of thing an architect would design for his or
herself. That is because they were. Chatting with a local resident, we learned
that architects had been amongst the first residents willing to purchase lots
and build houses on her street.
This type of
housing offers many advantages. Since these
houses are built on separate, legal parcels of land, they are not part of a
condominium. There are no strata fees and the owners can maintain or modify
their homes without having to seek their neighbours’ approval. Furthermore, the
increased density can help support public transit, something not possible in
Vancouver’s lower density single family neighbourhoods.
Wandering behind
one of the IJburg streets we came upon a back lane lined with larger laneway
houses. Unlike Vancouver’s smaller rental units, these beautiful homes were for
sale. Given the many
back lanes throughout Metro, one can only hope that one-day larger, family
sized laneway houses for sale will be permitted. After all, some Vancouver
residents are already purchasing laneway houses through complex
tenants-in-common legal arrangements, facilitated by innovative financial
institutions like Vancity.
Elsewhere in
IJburg we came across a floating home community. While many people live on the
water throughout the Netherlands, and there are numerous floating home
communities, what makes this development so special is that it is comprised of
attached dwellings; it’s a floating townhouse development. Moreover, the homes
even have basements!
Completed in
2011, there are 75 homes in the community, nearly all of which have their own
boat docked outside. The development was designed by Architects Marlies Rohmer,
in a neighbourhood known as Waterbuurt or Water District.
The houses were built at a shipyard about 65 km north of the site and then transported though canal locks, which limited their width. To ensure the homes don’t drift away or bang into one another, they are anchored to the lake bed by steel mooring poles.
As more and
more Vancouverites are ready to downsize from a single family house, or move up
from an apartment, an individually owned row house fronting onto a public
street might be just the answer. Add in a laneway house at the rear and we have
created what planners call gentle density and hidden density.
And for
those seeking something completely different, a floating home could be the
answer. After all, you won’t have to worry about rising sea levels.
No comments:
Post a Comment