[Daveography]

A “tiny home” in Westmount will test a new market in Edmonton for prospective homeowners who don't want a mega house.

Battle Lake Design Group is building a two-car garage suite attached to a 520-square-foot house that is similar to a laneway home. While most garage suites are built above-grade, this one is at grade.

“Right now it’s kind of a one-off, but there’s certainly a lot of interest,” said the group’s director, Chris Buyze.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...dmonton-offers-new-option-for-homebuyers.html

 

[Daveography]

Edmonton urged to take a new view of back alleys
With the development of garage and garden suites in Edmonton, the city needs to change the way it looks at back alleys, Kevin Taft told the urban planning committee on Wednesday.

For the people living in those suites, the alley becomes their front door, said Taft, a Belgravia resident and former leader of the Alberta Liberals.

Before expanding laneway housing, Taft said the city needs to treat back alleys as residential settings, ensuring good lighting, snow and ice clearing, fencing, and ways to deal with garbage.

"I'm not trying to stop laneway housing, I'm trying to get it right," said Taft, suggesting a pilot project in a few neighbourhoods.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...ay-city-edmonton-development-infill-1.4097921

Edmonton's garage suites remain the realm of the privileged
Garage suites in Edmonton still mostly belong to the rich.

They’re middle- to high-income residents, mostly living in mature areas, who are paying an average of $145,000 to build suites for aging parents or because they believe in urban density, said Ashley Salvador, a researcher who surveyed 64 per cent of local owners.

“They’re making values-based decisions to build a garage or garden suite,” added Travis Fong, who helped Salvador launch a new advocacy group, YEGarage Suites, to make it easier for people to get involved. He believes construction will be easier for anyone once Edmonton simplifies the process and removes more zoning barriers.

“These are early adopters who are willing to jump through a lot of … rigorous hoops,” Fong said. “They do believe in density and in having a more sustainable, dense, active city.”

The couple spoke Wednesday after council’s urban planning committee pushed city officials to create pilot projects, upgrade back alleys and provide other incentives to encourage rows of laneway homes near LRT stations and other walkable areas. Planners promised to look for groups of residents wanting to get involved and start a pilot as early as this summer.

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...age-suites-remain-the-realm-of-the-privileged

 

[lat]

Edmonton’s first village of tiny homes could be ready with a year to give military veterans experiencing homeless a place to rebuild their lives.
The Homes for Heroes Foundation secured a lease for a small wedge of vacant public land in Edmonton’s Evansdale neighbourhood this week. The proposed village would have roughly 20 tiny homes, as well as a community garden and park at 94A Street and 153 Avenue.

Edmonton's first tiny home village would serve homeless military veterans

'The idea is to give them a stable environment to live, and to give them opportunities to work on oneself, the opportunity to grow, and to reintegrate back into civilian life.'

edmontonjournal.com

 

[lat]

This article is interesting as well. My wife and I are just starting to look at volunteering with the construction of tiny homes for homeless. Haven't decided how or where to volunteer yet.

Wheels are in motion to allow tiny homes in Edmonton — but not until they’re up to code

A city committee approved a bunch of zoning amendments aimed at allowing more garden suites, infill housing and potentially more tiny homes. Here’s how the changes will allow for more diverse housing options in Edmonton.

www.thestar.com

 

[Daveography]

@lat This is a topic the EFCL's Planning Committee (of which I'm a member) is also looking at, to help advise and guide the city's policies on this.

 

[lat]

@lat This is a topic the EFCL's Planning Committee (of which I'm a member) is also looking at, to help advise and guide the city's policies on this.

Interesting. Do you have recent info on the city's policies on tiny homes?

 

[Daveography]

@lat It's still in early stages, but mostly it's a lot of contention right now about whether or not "tiny homes on wheels" (i.e., RVs) should be permitted, and if so, what additional regulations might be needed (i.e., fire codes, weather protection, utility hook-ups, etc.)

 

[lat]

Tiny house tour

A local couple takes us through their 280 square foot dream home.

edmonton.ctvnews.ca

 

[Daveography]

Edmonton's first tiny home village would serve homeless military veterans

'The idea is to give them a stable environment to live, and to give them opportunities to work on oneself, the opportunity to grow, and to reintegrate back into civilian life.'

edmontonjournal.com

Description: To construct a Multi-unit Housing development with 20 Dwellings, and an Accessory Amenity building (Homes for Heroes Village).
Permit date: October 8, 2020
Type: Development Permit
Subtype: Major Development Permit
Category: N/A
Class: Class B
Status: Approved
Address: 2, 9320 - 152A AVENUE NW
Neighbourhood: EVANSDALE
Zoning: DC2, AG,DC2,DC2

 

[ION]

I think ADU's and tiny houses are one key solution in housing everyone especially for the 40% of the market that consists of singles of all ages... Despite this fact very few units are designed for this new reality. What we need though is mass market construction rather than expensive one-off's... AKA IKEA needs to start offering its tiny homes in North America with local partners if need be. Or someone similarly enterprising...

 

[ION]

For anyone interested in taking a drive out to Chipman (Highway 15 east of Fort Sask, Bruderheim, Lamont) there's an ill-fated Tiny House development there called Coyote Commons which built 8 houses around a common garden area. It was planned to have a total of 64 homes but the project never did flourish despite its affordable price tag and decent location. I have some old photos on a back up drive from 2011 when I took some promo shots for the developer and despite the houses not being my personal taste they were quite adorable nonetheless... I'm more of an Honomobo fan myself... Love me some mid-century modernist black steel exteriors as you might image... Coyote Commons brochure Chipman Coyote Commons

 

[DutchBoy]

Because I believe in the power of video to capture the attention of people who don't like to read numbers or numbers in reports...

Bonus:

 

[TAS]

Love this backyard tiny home going up in Ritchie for some added density - pretty unique build in the city. It's about 12×24ft, so about 288 sq ft on level one and then the loft on the second level is another 150 sq ft.

 

[thommyjo]

Love this backyard tiny home going up in Ritchie for some added density - pretty unique build in the city. It's about 12×24ft, so about 288 sq ft on level one and then the loft on the second level is another 150 sq ft.

View attachment 311711View attachment 311712View attachment 311713

Thats awesome! Like a laneway house, but instead of having a garage vibe, its just a house! So cool.

 

[TAS]

Update from my friend's laneway house in Ritchie.