Laneway houses in Vancouver a great idea.... but still too costly for homeowners

Laneway houses, also known as coach houses or granny flats, are a great concept that can provide affordable, comfortable, safe accommodations to a city in dire need of this type of housing. A great option for either young couples wishing to remain in their home neighbourhood or for senior's looking for a little independence but yet still want to be close to their family.

Despite the outward public support Vancouver's mayor Gregor Robertson has shown for laneway housing, builders are still finding the approval process very challenging and the costs extremely high.

Jake Fry of Smallworks, a laneway home building construction company, breaks down the numbers like this.  Permit fees are currently running at $18,000 per laneway house. Sewer and water hook-ups cost $13,000 to run new lines (the city will not connect them to old lines), and the BC hydro fees cost from $1500 to $2700 for a hook-up.  Typically hook up fees cost about $400. Simply, the people who need these homes the most cannot afford them.

With the fees being so high, and so much red tape hindering the approval process the potential for laneway housing will continue to be unrealized by most homeowner's until something is done to resolve these problems.     

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