Toward a more flexible form of Multi-Family Housing? Lock-off Units in Vancouver

This research study explores the interaction of planning policy and practice in the case of lock-off unit (LOU) policy in Vancouver, based on expert insight and market uptake, to explore the rationale and design process for including LOUs in new multi-family housing development. Using content analysis and qualitative interviews with planners, developers and architects, along with analysis of permit data, the study finds that this form of housing is found primarily in townhouses, with the LOU at the “basement” level, under the primary unit, and there are limited examples of LOUs in an apartment form. The research suggests that the potential flexibility offered by LOUs is closely linked to affordability, with the target market considered to be a couple or young family “upsizing” from a smaller condominium apartment. The design of LOUs is not completely open-ended or user-led, but the flexibility offered by LOUs has a potential role to play in providing a new form of multi-family housing. The findings in this paper will be useful to urban planners, architects and developers, and to policy makers and other participants in the fields of housing policy, planning and design.