Missing Middle Housing Initiative

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If you suspect a building poses immediate safety risks, you can report the concern to Bylaw Services through the online form, or by phone or email.

Also, the City recently passed a Rental Property Standard of Maintenance Bylaw, which aligns with the Province’s Residential Tenancy Act, and sets out minimum standards for rental housing to ensure the quality, safety, and livability of rental units. The bylaw applies to all residential rental properties including rental apartments, rented condo units, secondary suites, garden suites, and unauthorized suites.

Conversations with the community and stakeholders have informed options for Missing Middle housing that are sensitive to the scale of other housing in neighbourhoods. Considerations factored into this include building orientation, location on the let, allowable size, scale, and design features that minimize impacts in the area. Please take the survey and share your feedback on how these considerations could be improved.

In British Columbia, the Local Government Act gives municipalities the power regulate land use through zoning bylaws (see Division 5). The Act also allows municipal governments to establish Development Permit areas (see Division 7) that require certain forms of development, such as missing middle housing, to demonstrate compliance with a set of design guidelines before they can seek a building permit. Here are the proposed Missing Middle Design Guidelines that would compliment proposed approaches to zoning for missing middle housing forms in Victoria.

We haven't reached that level of detail yet, as your feedback on the concepts for Missing Middle Housing will help inform the appropriate metrics (like site coverage maximum and related metric of minimum open site space) that could facilitate missing middle housing forms while maximizing usable outdoor space and tree planting space. To ensure large canopy trees continue to grow as a ubiquitous feature of Victoria’s urban forest, missing middle zoning could also include a requirement that there are no below-ground structures underneath at least the portion of the open site space that corresponds to the root zone that supports a large canopy tree (35 square meters).

If you've already taken the survey, but want to provide more detailed feedback to inform these considerations, feel free to email us at engage@victoria.ca. We will be reporting back to Council early in the new year on what we've heard from this phase of engagement and seeking Council's direction regarding the drafting of zoning bylaws for their consideration. There will be opportunity for public review and comment of the detailed draft zoning bylaws if Council advances to the stage of a public hearing.

Thanks for your feedback. At a high level, our recently approved Sustainable Mobility Strategy, GoVictoria, outlines the values, priorities, and policies that will shape the future of how we will manage the right-of-way, including on street parking (see page 44-45). This Strategy will help to guide important upcoming work to modernize our parking regulations and ensuring that the approach to managing and valuing on-street parking is proportional to demand for mobility needs (e.g. different permitting programs in high demand locations). Stay tuned for more on this!

Missing Middle zoning would be additive, rather than eliminating options. The proposed approach to zoning for Missing Middle housing, on which we're seeking feedback during this phase of engagement, would change zoning for properties that currently have the basic R1-B, R1-A, R1-G, and R-2 zoning. These zones account for the majority of land in the City's Traditional Residential areas. The existing permissions in these zones, including those that allow someone to construct a single family dwelling, would be carried forward into the new zoning, however permissions would be added that allow missing middle housing as well.

Victoria's Official Community Plan (OCP) was adopted by Council in 2012 after two and a half years of public consultation with more than 6,000 people. The OCP's growth concept (pg 17) envisions 50% of new housing in the Urban Core (i.e. downtown), 40% in and near Town Centres and Large Urban Villages (including Traditional Residential areas within close walking distance), and 10% in the Remainder of the City.

The colours look similar, but it's important to note the OCP's growth concept (pg 17) is different from the Map 2 - Urban Place Designations (pg 37). The latter is where Traditional Residential areas are defined, and the OCP provides general guidelines for built form, uses, and densities therein. Note: Some of the Traditional Residential areas may be within the growth concept's "close walking distance" of Town Centres and Large Urban Villages.

The Missing Middle Housing Initiative is largely implementing the OCP's guidance for Traditional Residential areas that has broadly supported a variety of ground oriented housing forms since adoption. However, see the OCP Amendments summary sheet for some modifications that are being considered (seeking feedback now!) for their potential to facilitate strategic accessibility and heritage conservation outcomes. 

All Community Association Land Use Committees were invited to attend one of three Ask a Planner online sessions (see recordings posted at the top right of this page) as well as participate in the survey. In addition, Community Association Land Use Committees are invited to submit written feedback directly to the City. Feedback received from all members of the public and organizations will be provided to Council for their consideration when staff report back to Council on the Missing Middle Housing initiative.

This may already be possible for you through the updated Schedule G - House Conversion Regulations,  which is a use permitted by most basic detached dwelling zones (e.g. R1-B, R1-G, R1-A). If a house meets the requirements in the House Conversion regulations to permit two or more strata units, an existing secondary suite could potentially be converted into a strata unit. If the house and potential conversion does not meet Schedule G, then a strata conversion of an existing suite may not be possible under the existing zoning. 

For questions about a specific project, you can contact our Zoning team at zoning@victoria.ca or 250-361-0316.