Seeing the massacre in seniors’ residences at the start of the pandemic, Suzie Lefebvre said to herself that “there was no question of her growing old in there.” His son Yannick, aged 29, suggested that they buy an intergenerational house. This was not ideal: such accommodation requires a connecting door. Unless you undertake major work, it would be impossible to ever rent to someone outside the family.
Mother and son visited duplexes and triplexes. These buildings were overpriced and required major renovations of at least $200,000.
Two years ago, another possibility emerged: their municipality of Sainte-Catherine, on the South Shore, was one of the first in Quebec to authorize the construction of “accessory dwelling units” (AHU). An UHA is a dwelling adjacent to a single-family home. It can be an apartment attached to the main residence or a tiny house built in the backyard of a property – a “garden house”.
“We said, ‘My God, this is perfect for us.’ My son is going to live in a brand new house for a fraction of the price he would pay on the market,” says Suzie Lefebvre at Duty.
The 63-year-old mother and her son decided to build a two-bedroom unit attached to M’s houseme Lefebvre. The contractor began digging the foundations last week. If all goes as planned, the exterior envelope of the housing will be completed at the beginning of December. Yannick will arrange the interior himself during the winter.
Total bill for the new house, including taxes and the services of an architectural technologist: approximately $300,000. A godsend in this overheated real estate market. The mother took the opportunity to refurbish the facade of her house purchased at the end of the 1990s. She and her son will share the backyard, equipped with a shed and an above-ground swimming pool.
Suzie Lefebvre is even considering adding a tiny house for her 34-year-old daughter. The land is quite large. No matter the scenario, she is relieved to be able to leave her properties as an inheritance to her two children.
Classes to take
“With the surge in housing prices, the housing crisis and the aging of the population, we think that accessory dwelling units can meet a need,” says Simon Ménard, land use planning advisor at the City. of Sainte-Catherine.
This municipality of just over 17,000 inhabitants, located along the river, has practically no land left to build new neighborhoods. The housing shortage hits as hard here as elsewhere in Quebec. But some single-family home yards are huge.
The municipality has decided to think outside the box and authorize the development of housing in these vast unoccupied spaces. Urban planners call it “soft densification,” less invasive than building high-rise towers or massive buildings with 36 apartments.
It’s not yet the rush for tiny houses. In two years, Sainte-Catherine has received ten permit applications for UHAs. Four permits have been granted, two homes are under construction and another is completed (an “illegal” home, which was regularized after the purchase of the house by a new owner).
A project for a tiny house at the back of the yard was abandoned due to the presence of mature trees. The City of Sainte-Catherine, like most municipalities in Quebec, takes the protection of large trees seriously.
Necessary housing
The presence of trees or other obstacles can hinder the development of garden houses. Contractors refuse to work on land where the space is considered too narrow for machinery or to store construction materials, explains Guillaume Lessard, visiting professor at the University’s School of Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture. from Montreal.
“It’s not always easy to build something new in a courtyard. It can cost more than buying a duplex, especially in urban areas where there is already density,” specifies the UHA specialist.
The professor studied the phenomenon of garden (or alley) houses in Vancouver, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa, where this type of housing has been authorized in recent years. Tiny houses are growing slowly: 5,000 of these units have been built in Vancouver in more than a decade, 800 in Edmonton, a few hundred in Toronto and a few dozen in Ottawa.
“This is additional housing in markets that need it. It is certainly a tool that cities should not deprive themselves of,” believes Guillaume Lessard.
The rest of Canada has turned to garden houses for a very simple reason: there are few or no duplexes or triplexes in English Canada, explains Guillaume Lessard. Single-family homes and high-rise towers dominate Canadian cities.
In Edmonton, new bungalows often come with basement accommodation and a backyard tiny house. “From a Quebec point of view, it is an unusual form of triplex,” explains the professor.
A movement that is accelerating
He considers it “inevitable” that Quebec cities will gradually authorize garden houses and housing attached to a main residence. A bungalow on a large plot of land is not profitable for a municipality. Two homes on the same land provide additional income to finance services.
Densification is good for local businesses and good for the planet, because it limits urban sprawl which causes the number of cars to explode. This is the reason why recent legislative changes encourage “gentle densification” in Quebec municipalities, recalls Guillaume Lessard. Cities generally must approve housing projects attached to a primary residence. And they can no longer hold referendums on projects for a detached tiny house at the back of a courtyard.
For two years, the cities which have given the green light to this type of housing have multiplied. Gatineau, Laval, Longueuil, Trois-Rivières, Nicolet, Granby, Victoriaville, Rouyn-Noranda, Rivière-Rouge and other municipalities have authorized UHAs or are considering doing so.
In the Gallic village
The municipality of Val-David, north of Saint-Jérôme, is in the process of approving this type of housing. “We have a vacancy rate of 0%! We want people to be able to find housing,” says the mayor, Dominique Forget.
Val-David is a bit like the Gallic village of the Laurentians. The municipality of 5,500 inhabitants, which undoubtedly has one of the largest proportions of therapists in acupuncture, massage therapy, osteopathy and chakra realignment in Quebec, is resisting the excessive development that is hitting its neighbors. A community of artists and outdoor enthusiasts has made its nest in this village like no other.
Val-David is cool. And wants to stay that way, underlines the mayor. Several doctors who practice in nearby hospitals or clinics live in the village. Dominique Forget says she hopes that nurses and beneficiary attendants will also be able to find accommodation.
“We want seniors or small families to have the means to have their own home by offering housing or a small house to rent on their land,” she explains.
Several houses are built on large lots. The municipality intends to ensure that the tiny houses respect the privacy and tranquility of the village, by ensuring, for example, that no windows overlook the neighbors’ terrace or swimming pool. A consultation carried out with 440 citizens revealed strong support for the development of garden houses, underlines Dominique Forget.
“We are here. The single-family house model can no longer be the only housing model, even far from large centers. People may have legitimate fears for their peace of mind, but we are going to densify responsibly. We cannot keep the status quo. »
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