It’s a laneway house world!

It’s that magical time of year again!  It’s time to get your tickets for the Vancouver Heritage Foundation’s Laneway House Tour!! We always support this effort to expose everyone to the best of laneway living.  But this year (and for the only time!) we are part of it!!!  No wonder I’m going crazy with the exclamation marks!!!!

The city is bragging about how many laneway houses are being built. It’s a movement that is taking hold.

The Huff Po is asking people to rent laneway houses.

And Global TV pointed out where laneway houses work for the increase of affordable housing in Vancouver — and where they don’t work.

And the Vancouver Sun mentioned our project (and my name!!!!!)

Maybe it’s the time of year (or as Joni says, maybe it’s the time of man) but the focus right now is on laneway homes.

We are SO PROUD to be part of this movement.

Shelley Fralic pointed out the one problem with laneway homes

Laneways are a good idea, especially as a means of increasing urban density and affordable housing while discouraging demolition. They provide rental income, and accommodation for university students or family members who don’t want to leave a cherished neighbourhood and their local support systems.

But here’s the problem with laneway houses.

They are built on lanes. Right on lanes. Which means, not to put too gritty a point on it, that when you live in a laneway house, you become a resident of a back alley, which is not always the most savoury of locales in which to spend your golden years.

True dat, Shelley, we will definitely be looking at the alley.  But, unlike our alley-facing condo where we lived (happily) for 13 years, we will have a south-facing laneway view — sunnier than where we lived before.  And as the TV story said, having eyes on the laneway will increase the security for the whole neighbourhood.

Are laneway houses the answer for affordable housing in Vancouver?  Of course not.  But they are part of the answer.  Co-op housing. low-rise condos, high-rise apartments, rentals, basement suites, are all part of the solution.

We are part of the solution.  And it just feels right.