Missing middle housing set to change the city’s landscape

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The missing middle — it’s a relatively recent buzz term in the urban planning and development world and, with Calgary’s new zoning bylaws in place, it’s generating plenty of interest.

“It’s about people connecting to their environment — the way of living that we used to have and, of course, some cities still do have,” says Alkarim Devani, co-founder of the development company RNDSQR and more recently, MDDL (the company name is a play on the word middle). He’s also a PhD candidate at the University of Calgary, studying the missing middle housing type and a guest lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley.

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So, what exactly is missing middle housing?

“The definition differs, but within the Alberta context and even within the B.C. context, we are talking about a gentle, low-density form that exists alongside the single-family home. The walk-up apartment is the biggest that you would get — the form doesn’t go beyond three, maybe four storeys — it’s really everything in between a single-family home and an apartment with an elevator — a duplex, triplex, stacked townhome, a work-live option,” says Devani.

These house-scale building options meld seamlessly into existing inner-city residential neighbourhoods and support walkability, locally serving retail and public transportation options.

Contextually and historically, middle housing is not a new building form.

“It just went missing when we saw policy changes in the early 1920s and ’30s that were rooted in socioeconomic and racial segregation,” says Devani. “At that time, most people who were affluent and not of colour could afford to live in single-family homes. By introducing this whole concept of a single-family zone, which was quite foreign at the time, it was a way to keep people apart. Add that to suburban growth, the rise of the automobile and people coming back from the war requiring housing at scale and you had this perfect storm.”

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Until recently, there was no zoning for missing middle development.

“You could build single-family, duplex, mid-rise or high-rise and there was clearly no in between. Now, there is a new understanding of these gentle forms of modest and low-scale built forms, and there is the possibility to add this type of housing stock,” says Nathan Robb, co-founder of Oldstreet Development, a Calgary developer who is also passionate about redefining and rejuvenating Calgary’s inner-city communities.

Oldstreet has shifted its focus from new-build for sale missing middle duplex products and is now honing in on purpose-built rental projects that embrace this form — townhomes, stacked townhomes, duplexes and low-rise apartment-style condominium projects.

“At the end of the day, economics dictate what works for developers,” says Robb. “Calgary is under-built in terms of purpose-built rental product, and in our case, we are weaving that in with the need for missing middle homes.”

Oldstreet currently has three architecturally significant purpose-built rental projects under construction in Calgary’s inner-city community of Marda Loop — Loop 28, Loop 33, and Loop 36 — projects that will add 60 diverse and thoughtful rental homes to the community.

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Loop 28 is an eight-unit townhome project (three-bedroom townhomes, along with one-bedroom lower-level homes with a separate exterior entrance) that exhibits a Scandinavian  esthetic, designed by Andison Residential Design. Loop 33 and Loop 36, both conceptualized by FAAS Architecture, are stacked townhome designs featuring two- and three-bedroom homes and lower level, one-bedroom designs. All three projects boast interior spaces by Amanda Hamilton Designs and offer beautifully landscaped courtyards and plenty of bicycle storage.

“We want to create beautiful rental properties that people can be proud of — proud to have dinner parties, host an event, have their families over and just a place where people can get joy out of living day in and day out,” says Robb, noting that in the past there has been a stigma associated with renting in Calgary.

But that is changing.

“With the price of a mortgage, plus interest, maintenance and insurance — it’s now a crazy number and for half that price you can rent something similar,” says Robb. “You can save more and invest in other things — cooking, dining, lifestyle, travel, savings. On a purely logical basis, you save more money renting.”

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Both Devani and Robb are passionate about building a better Calgary and are adamant that it’s not just about rejuvenating the inner city.

“A lot of these new green-fill communities in the suburbs are awesome; they are beautiful and thoughtful,” says Rob. “The reality is that the city is growing and we have to grow smart in a future-minded way and a sustainable way both financially and environmentally.”

When it comes to shifting gears in the inner city, though, Devani’s company MDDL is a game-changer and one that takes development to the grass-roots level, something that could only be achieved when the new zoning came into effect.

“People are like: ‘Well, my home is worth a million, but then where am I going to go and what about my kids?’ They can’t afford to buy in the inner-city, they have to go to the far suburbs. What if we could take that inner-city lot, worth a million and create an ecosystem where you can have your own townhome, your kids could have their own townhome, and have secondary suites for the grandmother? Why don’t we teach homeowners how to do this for themselves and then have them take advantage of the financing opportunities offered by CMHC,” says Devani, who is working with both the City of Kelowna in British Columbia and the City of Calgary to launch fast-track programs.

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Kelowna’s has just launched — homeowners who want to self-develop their properties can now get a building permit in 10 days rather than six months to a year, if they choose one of a handful of templated, architecturally designed housing plans. Devani’s new venture MDDL (mddl.co), assists self-developers on their development journey, offering advisory support, sharing pro forma, and providing how-to seminars.

For thoughtful developers and urban planners like Robb and Devani, it’s all about creating vibrant, lively communities with plenty of diversity and a range of demographics.

“We are always asking people: What cities do you like going to? What cities do you feel alive in? And, the answer is always cities where people are in the streets and children in the playgrounds and it’s walkable and the architecture is great,” says Robb.

“So, we say: Why does it have to be some other city? Why can’t it be our city?  We want to be the change that we want to see. That is the ethos for everything we do,” says Robb.

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