by Jeff Watson

There’s no denying Canada’s housing bubble. As prices ramp up, certain properties now cost even more than European castles—a fact that inspired several viral TikTok videos of real estate comparisons by @millennialmoron. This crisis stretches all across Canada, including Windsor-Essex, and as less and less people can afford a place to live, we can’t help but wonder what can be done. 

Well, there is one solution in motion: more dwelling units. 

What does this mean? How does it help? And what are its effects on our environment?

By “more dwelling units,” I refer to new regulations that allow for an increase in living spaces on one given property; up to 3 dwelling units, comprised of a main dwelling and two Additional Dwelling Units (ADUs), are now allowed on a municipally serviced urban residential property (according to recent changes to the provincial Planning Act). One of the ADUs can be a detached dwelling on the same lot as the primary dwelling, while the other must be in or attached to the primary dwelling.

All in all, the key point here can be summarized in two words: small homes.

One given living space can be divided into many (up to 3 total) in order to accommodate more people while simultaneously reducing costs due to the homes' manageable small sizes.

Municipalities are encouraged, and may soon be required, to permit ADUs in rural areas too. The intention of these changes is to provide more opportunities for affordable, varied-by-type owner-occupied and rental housing to meet current and projected housing needs over the next 10 years—the needs being what the provinces estimates to be up to 1.5 million new dwelling units. 

In terms of the size of these living spaces, local regulations governing building height, setback from property lines, and lot coverage, for example, still apply. But municipalities are not permitted to set minimum dwelling or dwelling unit size (floor area) limits anymore—the minimum permitted size of a dwelling unit is now set exclusively by the Ontario Building Code. 

Tiny homes, anyone?

Recently, I met with Operations Manager Austin Friesen and Sales Representative Brandon Bergen (Featherstone Realty) of INNO Home Solutions, a new Leamington-based company and offshoot of Essex Weld Solutions. INNO was specifically created to help address the need for affordable, well-constructed housing, especially for people who are limited to mortgage financing of less than the average monthly cost of available housing regionally. 

INNO produces modular housing units—cost-effective and stable small-scale infill housing—that are placed on a concrete pad or foundation on site. They are not mobile homes, but rather 3m by 4.3m (10’ by 14’) units that can be joined together horizontally and vertically to form a free-standing permanent dwelling.

It’s clear to see from real estate listings just how difficult it is to find a house under $350,000, or to anticipate likely costly renovations and repairs once a house is purchased. Faced with both high cost and high competition, getting a home in today's market can seem impossible.  Interestingly, Brandon states that despite higher interest rates, the buyer competition for such dwellings is strong, given the limited number on offer. 

Touring the factory floor with Austin to see a 3m by 18m² (10’ by 60’) model under construction revealed 3 major things: the homes are built under factory conditions, not exposed to the vagaries of the weather; they are built to CSA standards; and, as factory homes, there is greater consistency in construction and in quality control. 

The cost? A smaller unit runs in the low $200s plus the costs of transport to the site, the foundation, the utility connections, parking and landscaping. Being a very efficient and solidly constructed house, maintenance costs are reduced which helps keep monthly costs more affordable.

In terms of who is eligible for these living spaces, there are no restrictions on who can occupy an ADU. A homeowner can set up an ADU for a relative or any other renter of choice. *

These additional dwelling units (ADUs) are a good way to provide accessible owner-occupied and rental housing opportunities, so that healthy, affordable and efficient housing is available for all residents of Windsor-Essex County.

What about the environment?

It's important to note that ADUs can be climate friendly as they make better use of urban lands, reduce sprawl, and take advantage of existing municipal services. They can be in greater density areas where the occupants can have access to public transit and institutions, also encouraging the build of more active transportation facilities. Plus, homes like those constructed by INNO Home Solutions and others will likely be more energy efficient. Being for the most part smaller, they will also be easier to live in and maintain in a way that is resource and cost-effective. In which case, the “More Homes Built Faster Act” seems to have positive potential. However, key issues arise that have conservation authorities across Canada standing strongly against it.

According to Birds Canada, “Bill 23 and other proposed legislative and policy changes would affect natural heritage conservation, urban and rural land-use planning, and environmental protections” in concerning ways. Moreover, they also state they are “concern[ed] that such changes will weaken environmental protections, infringe on Indigenous rights, limit public involvement in land-use planning and decision making, remove cities’ green building standards, remove farmland needed for food production – and, that it won’t increase (and may in fact decrease) the supply of truly affordable housing for people who need it the most.”

“Statement: The Problems with Bill 23 and the Proposal to Remove Lands from the Greenbelt” is an accessible and helpful resource that outlines the argument against Bill 23 by 125 diverse signatories across Canada, which states:

In contradiction with the previous statement, Bill 23 and its associated changes may actually reduce the supply of affordable housing, supercharge urban sprawl, wound local democracy, undermine environmental protection, and threaten farmers and farmland.

So what can we do? We may choose to cautiously take advantage of what is available to us now, but ultimately advocate for a different approach with the environment in mind. 

ADU Search

ADUSearch is a program funded primarily under the Canada Mortgage and Housing Supply Challenge initiative. It’s made to assist you to see if it's possible to accommodate an additional dwelling unit in the principal residence or in a detached dwelling (detached ADU) on your property in permitting municipalities.  

As per the image below, the City of Windsor has approximately 20,000 suitable properties classified in dark green. Other information related to the site’s proximity to local amenities, average neighbourhood property owner, and renter affordability, based on the 2021 Census, is available for reference and comparison on the website and on the Windsor Law Centre for Cities blog.

While in its infancy, ADUSearch should prove to be a very handy tool for property owners, developers, and municipal administrators in gauging public interest and the potential demand for additional dwelling units.

This is a start to your research on ADUs. It is important that you become familiar with the local regulations that apply to your specific property; so please contact your municipal building department for more detailed information on how you can take advantage of the ADU trend and the regulations that govern them. 

* Municipalities generally do not permit a free-standing ADU to be severed from the main dwelling to create a separate lot. So, a commitment to a freestanding ADU must be made on the assumption that it is permitted exclusively on the existing lot with the primary dwelling, forever.