Housing costs have soared. Are smaller dwellings the answer? | 24CA News

For Sonya Mullins, the advantages of considering small are apparent —  in terms of housing

Mullins grew up in Halifax, however spent the majority of her life in Montreal. Prior to the pandemic, she was eager about shifting again to Nova Scotia. But by the point she significantly started trying, housing costs had jumped a lot {that a} conventional, single-family home was out of her attain. 

“I never even considered a mini-home [before],” she mentioned. “But it was an option that I was able to afford.”

Mullins did some analysis and bought a mini-home in Hubbards west of Halifax for $180,000, sight unseen. “I will tell you it is probably the best choice I’ve ever made in my life.”

As housing prices proceed to climb in Nova Scotia, officers and repair suppliers hope smaller properties may very well be a part of the answer. The Halifax Regional Municipality just lately voted to do away with minimal dimensions for single-unit properties, and to get rid of restrictions on delivery container and cell properties. 

It’s a part of a shift some hope will assist meet the necessity for housing on the velocity and scale that is required whereas the province’s inhabitants continues to develop. 

Home values, rental prices proceed to climb

In Nova Scotia, the large worth will increase of the early years of the pandemic have levelled off, however demand continues to outstrip provide. 

In December, Atlantic Canada recorded the best annual enhance in rental prices within the nation, with common hire leaping by 31.8 per cent for purpose-built condos and leases. Meanwhile, home values in Halifax-Dartmouth elevated by eight per cent year-over-year in 2022. 

“With the pandemic and inflation and a continued imbalance between the number of people moving into [Halifax] and the number of units we’re producing, we’re getting further and further behind in terms of available supply,” mentioned Kevin Hooper, supervisor of partnerships and neighborhood improvement at United Way Halifax.

Hooper said the situation is “dire” with a growing numbers of people who simply have no place to go. 

As this trajectory continues, Hooper said it’s important for people to look beyond conventional housing that focuses on detached homes and instead encourage construction of compact dwellings, including tiny homes, manufactured homes and shipping-container homes. 

“Building a tiny dwelling, granted it is one unit at a time, however we want models now, so there’s an argument to be made not solely by way of the price, however by way of the time it takes to do it and the necessity.”

Hooper said encouraging more small development allows individual households to act as developers, including for adult children struggling to find housing, or older adults needing support.

“I simply suppose that we actually have to open our minds to how this will actually work each for housing and for simply neighborhood constructing writ massive.”

Encouraging ‘gentle density’

Kate Green, director of regional and community planning with the HRM, said the region’s bylaw amendments could increase options within the existing housing stock which is faster than building new supply. 

“We’re actually centered on doing what we name enabling light density,” Green said. “Most of Canada’s cities are made up of huge areas of single household zoning. So we actually need to shift that and use that land extra effectively.”

Two recent bylaw amendments in the HRM aim to encourage this shift, Green said. One was to allow shared housing  — which includes rooming houses and seniors’ housing — in all residential areas. 

Bylaws were also amended to strike size limits from eight areas where there were minimum size requirements. They also changed rules so that mobile homes, including tiny homes, could be considered single-family dwellings which allows them to be put in more places. And a prohibition against using shipping containers as backyard suites was eliminated.

Planning for doubling of population 

The HRM had previously taken a step toward encouraging smaller developments in 2020, when it changed rules to allow for secondary and backyard suites. Since then, the municipality has issued 371 construction permits for these kinds of units. 

It’s all part of dealing with a projected population of just over a million people in the greater Halifax area by 2050.

“We’re going to should maintain specializing in how we create completely different choices for housing and new types of housing all throughout the area.”

A government-led push for smaller development isn’t without precedent. 

Following the Second World War, demand for housing spiked, but because of the Great Depression and the war, little housing had been built for a decade.

In response, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) designed and built hundreds of thousands of one-and-a-half storey, 900-square-foot dwellings called “victory homes” in communities across the country.

Over time, houses have grown. The average home built today is 2,200 square feet. As cities look to fit more people onto existing parcels of land, Green said downsizing might be the answer. 

“[Tiny homes] are much less intensive use of the land. They are smaller, so you would create locations the place you could have extra models on a given piece of land than you would with a giant single-family dwelling. So it creates extra choices,” mentioned Green.

Roger Gallant, a tiny home builder in P.E.I. who sells to customers across the country, including in Nova Scotia, also sees a need for more kinds of housing and he’s seen growing interest.

Gallant said his clients typically want to live off-grid in rural areas, though they can be modified to hook up to the grid and city water. 

He said while small dwellings aren’t for everyone — he encourages potential buyers to come check out his tiny home and shipping container dwellings to see if they think it will work for them— they could help some people for whom the average house is out of reach.  “We’re going to have to vary one thing, as a result of not everybody can afford [a house],” he said. “So persons are on the lookout for choices.”

With housing costs as they currently stand, Sonya Mullins worries about the impact on families. If she hadn’t bought her mobile home, she’d be hard-pressed to afford the cost of rent in Halifax now, and if she’d been faced with those housing costs years ago, when she was a divorced mother of three working multiple jobs, it would have been impossible.

“I do not know what I might have finished. I might not have been in a position to maintain myself.”

Even though costs of mobile homes have gone up — the same model as she bought is now selling for roughly $100,000 more — she said it’s still more affordable than many other options.

And though moving to a smaller home has involved downsizing, she said being able to choose a house that’s the right size for her budget has been worth it. “I do know that I’m in a position to reside comfortably, financially,” she said.  “It’s fantastic.”