North York Central Library Blog

Tiny Houses, Hatteras, North Carolina. Image by Bill Dickinson; shared via Creative Commons license

You can't open a newspaper these days without seeing articles about the Canadian housing market. Pointing out the growing gap between incomes and house prices, predicting the inevitable correction, or perhaps a soft landing, they can make for pretty confusing reading. So wouldn't it be reasonable to think that renting is the better strategy in the current housing market? Well the situation for renters isn't much better; according to a 2015 report from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, a shortage of rental housing stock means that "one in five renters pays more than 50 per cent of their income on housing". 

So what are the options if you're looking for alternatives to Toronto's current sky-high rents and record real estate prices? 

You could look into alternate housing models. Here are some examples:

• shared ownership: In this model you buy and live in a home with friends, sharing the costs of home ownership. Read more about the shared ownership model here.
• co-operative housing: Housing co-ops are non-profit organizations which provide secure housing to members at lower than average cost. Learn about the co-operative housing movement in Canada here.
• co-housing: Co-housing is an ownership model in which residents own their homes and also have access to a common space with shared amenities. Pooling and sharing resources can lower costs. Toronto's first co-housing project is in the planning stages. Learn more about the co-housing model here.

You could also investigate these smaller, more affordable housing options:

• laneway housing: Laneways can provide "small-scale housing options that can help address the affordability gap". Toronto has over 25000 laneways; while some cities are allowing the construction of new laneway housing, Toronto currently considers applications on a case-by-case basis. 
• garden suites: A garden suite is a self-contained housing unit built on a lot with an existing single-family home, usually occupied by people related to the homeowner. It is especially suited to seniors or people with disabilities, but there is increasing awareness that garden suites can help meet the housing affordability gap. In 2011 the Ontario government changed the Planning Act to make garden suites a more attractive housing option. Learn more about those changes here.
• shipping containers: Using modular components helps reduce construction costs.  Shipping containers are being re-purposed for everything from pop-up shops to living spaces. Pallet homes reuse wooden shipping pallets as an affordable building material for small living spaces.

Here are some library resources with more information on this subject: