On the House: Disrupting the sea of suburban sameness

A four-storey apartment could be coming to a suburban neighbourhood near you. Plus, a sampling of high and low listings around the city

STEPHEN SPEILBERG’S FILM Poltergeist focused on a family whose nondescript suburban home is invaded by malevolent ghosts. Speilberg was known for using the banal sameness of suburbia as a backdrop for his movie adventures.

I imagine those same Poltergeist neighbours looking on in horror at the potential assault on their community by proposed changes to their cookie-cutter world ― changes that could change Ontario’s housing future.

Doug Ford’s recently formed Housing Affordability Task Force has miraculously come out with a draft report in less than six weeks, and the recommendations may help bring an end to the sameness of suburban landscapes.

Following in the Toronto Board of Trade’s recommendation, they propose allowing up to four units on any building lot. This would allow a purpose-built duplex, triplex or fourplex to be inserted in any single-family home subdivision. It would intensify infill in established neighbourhoods. It would allow subdivisions built after the 1960s to start to look more like the eclectic and diverse neighbourhoods of old, such as Old South and Old East Village.

Many NIMBYs (Not in My Back Yard) will feel threatened by this change, allowing rentals and more diversity of incomes into upscale domains. These same homeowners who will fight against this are the one’s bemoaning the lack of housing affordability for the next generation. North America’s model of ever-expanding growth from an endless supply of land is coming to an end. We can look to Europe for models of growth, using transit and density to solve housing shortages. 

Mr. Ford’s government is approaching an election season. The conservative base doesn’t want change, and they dominate suburbia and beyond. But the development industry and big business realize we need to fuel housing development and infill solutions to resolve the housing crisis ― they’re behind the Housing Task Force’s seemingly radical ideas.

We’ll see if the current government has the fortitude to handle both the NIMBYs and the developers. I fear the inevitable conservative solution will be to pave over more greenspace, thus creating more Poltergeist-like fields of sprawl and sameness. 

Market analysis provided by Marcus Plowright, Sales Representative, A Team London. Marcus can be reached at 519-872-8326 or marcus@ateamlondon.ca.

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London East

Low

Address: 211-1830 Dumont Street
MLS number: 40202271
List price: $199,900
Days on market: 1
Size: 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 648 square feet
Listing agent: Scott Vannoord, Sales Representative, Sutton Group-Select Realty Inc., Brokerage

High

Address: 151 Travelled Road
MLS number: 40194275
List price: $2,199,999
Days on market: 43 
Size: 11 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 6,120 square feet
Listing agent: Geoff Mitchell, Sales Representative, Re/Max Centre City Realty Inc., Brokerage

London North

Low

Address: 421-5 Jacksway Crescent 
MLS number: 40200212
List price: $389,900
Days on market: 8
Size: 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 898 square feet
Listing agent: Steve Wiggett, Sales Representative, Royal LePage Triland Realty

High

Address: 88 Tallwood Circle
MLS number: 40202083
List price: $1,488,000
Days on market: 1
Size: 5 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2,740 square feet
Listing agent: Roger Caranci, Sales Representative, Royal LePage Triland Realty

London South & West

Low

Address: 59 Euclid Avenue
MLS number: 40200697
List price: $199,900
Days on market: 1
Size: 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 500 square feet
Listing agent: Joyce Byrne, Broker, Sutton Group Preferred Realty Inc., Brokerage

Address: 3862 Southwinds Drive
MLS number: 40193815
List price: $4,277,000
Days on market: 33
Size: 4 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 5,210 square feet
Listing agent: Michael Reis, Sales Representative, Prime Real Estate Brokerage

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Disclaimer: London Inc. does not guarantee the accuracy of the statistical data on this page. The data does not represent the listings of any one agent or agency but represents the activity of the real estate community in the area. Any real estate agent’s ad appearing is separate from the statistical data provided, which is in no way a part of their advertisement.