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By downtownlandlord (anonymous) | Posted April 26, 2011 at 17:23:55
"If you think I came across as negative, then may I be so bold as to suggest you sound a tad bit preachy? Typical of this site, if you disagree you get labelled as unconstructive."
sorry if you found my post preachy, but I don't think it is any less preachy than you saying that there is no need for smaller apartments and that all houses should stay single-family because they are affordable. Affordable to some but not to all. There will always be a market for quality rentals.
These single family homes were built back when families were huge - two adults plus an older grandparent or two and 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 kids... it seems to me that with today's smaller family sizes, it is totally appropriate to convert these houses into two or three units of one or two people each.
Your message should be spoken to absentee landlords who live in ancaster ---or further. But you've come to a forum frequented largely by urban dwellers so your words are not reaching the audience they should. I don't think you should be surprised that many people who read this site are interested in dense urban growth so I don't think you have to take the disagreement personally.
you speak of 3000 sq ft houses being divided into 7 units - I know you are exaggerating for effect but just as I may be an exception to the rule, so is the carving of the magnitude that you state. The truthful average lies somewhere in between.
You ask "Why do they have to be carved up into rental units to begin with?"
Because we are being mandated by the province to meet certain intensification goals - and it is for our own good to comply. Healthy cities are dense cities and unfortunately in Hamilton, the line up of developers willing to build large multi unit complexes is very short.
I also believe that more small scale intensification (2, 3, 4 unit houses and low rise apartments) are a more sustainable way to increase density than building huge apartment complexes. But I admit I am biased because I look at it from an angle that I personally find it more pleasant to live in a converted home than an apartment with an elevator.
And on top of this, many of them are already carved up - so shouldn't we be coming up with a way to make the existing properties safe and clean? I don't know what the answer is, but trying to eliminate multi family conversions doesn't seem like the right one to me. And in the long run, we should create a logical, easy to understand, and easy to execute path to creating more duplexes where the infrastructure can support it. We HAVE to intensify somewhere and I'd rather see a block of singles turned into duplexes than a block razed for a crappy apartment building with a surface parking lot (required because our city's parking requirements are arcane beyond belief)
many of toronto's most vibrant neighbourhoods have many many 3 and 4 unit conversions and the same can be said about any successful city!! These neighbourhoods are not simply clean ghettos, they are successful neighbourhoods
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