Latest news with #housingdensity
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
Auckland more dependent on cars, less density than its peers, report finds
Traffic on Rimu Rd, Mangere Bridge, as morning commuters try and find a way to get on the motorway. Photo: RNZ/Nicky Park Auckland's strengths are its quality of life and diversity, a new report has found, but these aren't enough to keep the city competitive. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Auckland is more dependent on cars and has less housing density than its peers, a new report says. The State of the City report, conducted by Deloitte for the Committee for Auckland, compared Auckland to Vancouver, Portland, Austin, Dublin, Copenhagen, Helsinki, Tel Aviv, Fukuoka and Brisbane. Committee for Auckland director Mark Thomas told Morning Report prosperity had declined the most in the past three years partly due to housing. "The report says that we are much less dense than our peers, now that's not to say we need to be dense everywhere, what it's saying is we don't have the same degree of mixed housing that other cities do. "We also are more car dependent because we don't provide other transport options. So that's an example of one of the big consequences of our inability to solve this land use planning challenge." Thomas said the report mentioned that Brisbane had managed to book hosting the Olympic Games. File in Māngere, Auckland. Photo: RNZ/Nicky Park "We won't have the Olympic Games in Auckland, but a Commonwealth Games for example is an example of a catalytic event that peer cities are doing and we can't even work out where to build a stadium." Interest in hosting the 2034 Commonwealth Games was first floated by the New Zealand Olympic Committee in April 2023. The NZOC says its expression of interest still stands and work around a potential bid is ongoing. At the time, the government said if a bid was to go ahead, the event would be nationwide - not confined to one city. The third annual State of the City benchmarking report identified strengths in sustainability, resilience and culture but also highlights disadvantages in opportunity, experience and location. " Weak economic performance , inadequate skills and innovation development, and disjointed and delayed planning are causing Auckland to lose ground, with the risk of falling further behind," Committee for Auckland director Mark Thomas said in a statement. "We must fix the productivity problem, back high-growth industries and innovation, actually deliver better transport and housing, and rebuild Auckland's reputation." He endorsed an "Auckland deal" under the government's City and Regional Deals programme . Auckland's strengths were its quality of life and diversity, the report found, but these were not enough to keep the city competitive. "This latest report shows Auckland isn't keeping up in key areas, but the green shoots of innovation and growth are a sign of what's possible if the city can drive higher productivity and create business conditions for sustained success," Deloitte chief executive Mike Horne said. "Auckland's productivity sets the pace for the rest of the country , so it has an opportunity - and a responsibility - to be bolder in lifting it." The report recommends the central and local governments address land use, housing, transport and regulatory settings which hindered productivity. It also recommended the council strengthen Auckland's international brand, and "develop a compelling story about Auckland's past, present, and future that communicates its values, culture, and ambitions to the world". Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
New York Times
27-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Why Does This House Have a Skybridge?
A peculiar architectural feature has spread throughout Seattle. On a single lot, you'll see three houses, one somewhat bigger than the others, and between the big one and a smaller one is a walkway. Sometimes it's on the ground floor, and sometimes it's through the air — in other words, a skybridge. On paper, what you're looking at is a single-family home and two accessory dwelling units, an arrangement locally known as a 3-pack. These compounds popped up after Seattle eased building restrictions on A.D.U.s in 2019, as part of the city's efforts to increase housing density and drive down prices. A.D.U.s are built on land that would not otherwise be developed — often, what would be a house's backyard — and tend to cost less than conventional single-family homes. Before 2019, Seattle allowed only one A.D.U. per lot, and the owner of the main house had to live on site and provide an off-street parking spot for any new unit. Under those restrictions, most A.D.U.s were built by homeowners on their existing lots, for use as guesthouses, studios or offices. In 2019, the city removed the owner-occupancy and parking requirements and raised the number of A.D.U.s allowed per lot to two — but on lots containing two A.D.U.s, one had to be attached to the primary house. Developers, rather than individual homeowners, drove the next phase of A.D.U. construction, creating three-unit compounds to make the most of these unusual rules. Alice Ji and her fiancé bought the main house in an A.D.U. compound in March. She said the skybridge connecting it to another unit is her laundry room, just big enough for two machines. 'The developers did a really good job with soundproofing everything, so we don't ever hear noise from our neighbors,' she said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBC
26-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Council votes to allow sixplexes in 9 Toronto wards, leaving suburbs to opt in
Following a long debate Wednesday, Toronto councillors compromised on whether to allow sixplexes across the city, voting to allow the multi-unit housing in only nine wards and giving other wards the chance to opt-in. Coun. Gord Perks, who was pushing for a city-wide adoption, ultimately introduced a motion "very reluctantly" to allow sixplexes in eight Toronto-East York district wards and Ward 23 (Scarborough North), where a pilot is already in place, saying he wanted to increase housing density in some capacity rather than none. "I've spent a considerable amount of time and effort working with my colleagues on council, trying to find majority support for doing what this council already committed to in 2023, which is city wide sixplexes," he said after hours of debate. "But I've been unable to find that." Along with Ward 23, the following wards will now allow sixplexes: Ward 4, Parkdale-High Park. Ward 9, Davenport. Ward 10, Spadina-Fort York. Ward 11, University-Rosedale. Ward 12, Toronto-St. Paul's. Ward 13, Toronto Centre. Ward 14, Toronto-Danforth. Ward 19, Beaches-East York. The motion allows councillors of the remaining 16 wards to make a request to the city's chief planner to opt in if interested in allowing sixplexes. It also directed city staff to make sure necessary neighbourhood infrastructure is available to support added density where sixplexes are built, including street cleaning, public realm maintenance and improvements. The vote follows a city staff report that recommended allowing low-rise sixplexes across Toronto as-of-right, so they could be built without special permission. That followed a decision to allow fourplexes across the city in 2023. Lengthy debate leaves councillors divided City staff noted that allowing sixplexes would be a "significant milestone" in meeting Toronto's commitments under the federal Housing Accelerator Fund to allow more low-rise, multi-unit housing development through as-of-right zoning bylaws in its neighbourhoods. Coun. Perks warned councillors that the city could be denied funding if it voted against approving sixplexes. But the issue remained divisive at council, with Coun. Stephen Holyday pushing back. "That is the definition of selling out the residents for money," Holyday said. "Why don't we just ask the people what they want?" he said. "They're not satisfied with ramming through sixplexes in communities that were never designed to house them." Parthi Kandavel, councillor for Scarborough Southwest, told reporters that adding sixplexes to wards like his would put pressure on community infrastructure, parking and property costs. "If you give more units the permissions, land value increases," he said. "This will have a tremendous impact for working and middle class families on the path to home ownership in the suburbs … and that's a primary part of our concerns." In a statement following the vote, Mayor Olivia Chow said the city needs to do more to address the housing affordability crisis, and she hopes all wards will soon allow sixplexes. "I am confident that, as more people see the benefits of missing middle housing, where average rent is $830 cheaper than condos and 65% of units are family-sized, more councillors will also opt in," she said.
CBC
14-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Charlottetown adding homes by rezoning parts of city from low to medium density
The City of Charlottetown is hoping to increase housing density in the city by rezoning portions of it from low to medium density. Eight zoning and development bylaw amendments passed first reading at the regular meeting of Charlottetown's city council on Tuesday night, most of them aimed at providing more housing options across the city. "A lot of people have this misconception that medium density means high-rise apartment buildings, but it doesn't, it means gentle infill. It means being respectful to communities, building townhouses, building tiny apartment buildings, building duplexes and homes with accessory suites and things like that," said Charlottetown's deputy mayor Alanna Jankov, who also chairs the planning and heritage committee. "We have potentially approved 1,100 units that could be developed over the coming years, but all through medium density. We're not looking at high rises. We're looking at preserving the communities and doing it with a level of class." Some of the bylaw amendments also came with developments. City council voted unanimously to rezone a portion of Mount Edward Road from low to medium density to make way for a multi-phased project that could bring about 150 units to the area. Phase 1 is a 47-unit apartment building with underground parking. According to city documents, some residents raised concerns about additional traffic in the area, something Coun. Mitch Tweel echoed during the council meeting. "If you look at Mount Edward Road, there is industrial traffic, there is commercial traffic, residential traffic. The traffic is just unprecedented, no different than, probably what you see, on North River Road," he said. "With all this development, there is a cost to the municipality to provide the necessary prerequisite infrastructure, and that's something I am going to ask our staff to set up the process for a traffic plan for Mount Edward Road. I think it's long overdue." Traffic is increasing along with the population, but that's not a reason to stop building housing, Jankov said. "That is the city's responsibility to look at traffic flow and traffic studies, which we will do and we [fully intend] to do that. But we can't stop growth because we're concerned with traffic because you are going to have the traffic. We have to deal with that, but we can't stop development," Jankov said. "We're in less than a one per cent vacancy rate in the City of Charlottetown. People need somewhere to live. People need affordable places to live." The city is also trying to encourage building near transit routes so people are less reliant on cars, Jankov said. City seeking feedback on bylaw Charlottetown's city council also approved zoning to allow a five-storey, 41-unit building at 139 Kensington Rd., a nine-unit townhouse at 171-181 Kensington Rd. and a four-unit townhouse on Evelyn Street. The city is seeking feedback on updating the Zoning and Development Bylaw. There are two public meetings this week: one on Wednesday from 5 to 8 p.m. at Simmons Sports Centre and one on Thursday night from 6 to 9 p.m. at West Royalty Community Centre. The new Zoning and Development Bylaw should come to council for a vote in the next six weeks, Jankov said.
