Co-living: another type of housing needed in Vancouver.

According to Vancouver Is Awesome North Vancouver is now the most expensive place in which to rent an unfurnished one-bedroom unit in Canada, with its new-to-market units averaging $2,802 a month in February; it also had the highest prices for two- and three-bedroom units.

Nonetheless, most single people live alone often in these expensive studio or one-bedroom apartments. While two unrelated people may share a two-bedroom apartment, rarely do two unrelated people share a one-bedroom apartment. Furthermore, the living room is rarely used at night. Why? Because the standard one-bedroom apartment design is not conducive to sharing.

I am therefore hoping North Vancouver District staff and Council will welcome our proposal for a new 5-storey building in Maplewood Village Centre offering 33 co-living suites designed for sharing. As a result of the unique design features, these 33 suites could provide more affordable accommodation for up to 88 residents.

If you are not familiar with co-living, it is different from co-housing, or cooperative housing. Instead, it is what many of us experienced when we were at university or starting our first job. It is living with other people and sharing...sometimes a bathroom, but always a kitchen (or two), and living/dining spaces. Sometimes the rooms are furnished or partially furnished and sometimes some services are provided.

Coliving often happens in an old house shared by five people, or it can be a large new building conplex like those being developed by common.com and other similar operators. I personally experienced different forms of co-living which I wrote about five years ago in an article about the need for more innovative forms of housing. https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/courier-archive/opinion/vancouver-needs-innovative-approach-towards-affordable-rental-housing-3103544 Some of these experiences resulted in some innovative designs at UniverCity, the model sustainable community I oversaw at SFU from 1999 to 2006.

I have recently been working with a developer and Integra Architects on a proposal for a residential development on a small site in Maplewood Village Centre in the District of North Vancouver, within walking distance of various shops and services and Phibbs BusExchange. While from the outside it appears like a conventional 5-storey apartment building, the building offers an excellent opportunity to create another form of co-living, with a variety of suite layouts designed for sharing. Our goal is to incorporate some of the best ideas developed at UniverCity and other co-living developments.

Below are illustrations of two such suite designs incorporating what CMHC and others sometimes refer to as 'flex housing' features.

In this proposal the flexible one-bedroom, two-bedroom and four-bedroom suite designs allow living rooms to become bedrooms at night. How? By simply adding a door to the living room and including a small closet.

The building also includes lock-off suite designs, similar to those pioneered at UniverCity. The lock-off potion of the suite creates a rental unit and mortgage helper for a first time buyer. However, in this building the lock-off suite also has a living room designed to serve as bedroom at night.

As my former colleague Norm Couttie, former president of Adera, who is working with me on this proposal recently said, given the housing affordability crisis, we cannot continue to do things just like we did in the past. We need to try and innovate. Some innovations may not work. But others may well lead to commonplace solutions in the future. I believe our North Van District proposal will work, especially if it can be regarded as a demonstration project. We just need to get the planning staff and Council to let us proceed, sooner rather than later, since the interest meter is ticking!