This fills a huge affordability gap between wood projects that aren't viable at four storeys and concrete projects that aren't viable below eight or so.
There are several stalled projects around Downtown that may take advantage of these new rules:
- Buckerfield's lot, Chinatown
- Sawyer's Sewing, 840 Fort St.
- Bossi House addition, 1007 Johnson
This is crucial for affordability because four storey apartment construction like we saw in 1960-1980 isn't really being done on a significant scale. Existing four storey apartments--the foundation of our affordable housing stock--is aging and may only have a decade or two life left in them in some cases. In addition, increasingly tough carbon footprint and sustainability rules will put the focus on how energy-wasting these older buildings are and how difficult it will be to retrofit them economically.
Here is the government's website on the new code.
Here are some questions and answers.