The solution: Designing co-living, communal, deeply affordable housing in Downtown TO.
Smart Density designed a CMHC deeply affordable housing, a housing typology that would allow for a multi-room residential (co-living) building with a shared kitchen and communal space. This proposal stands at 9-storeys, has zero parking and includes 73 dwelling units with two floors of communal living space. It also has the added advantage of the adjacent property owned by Toronto Hydro – an agreement will be reached to ensure windows could be opened and operable facing the side property line. The proposal takes advantage of a relatively narrow single property that many developers would consider unusable for a traditional ‘high density’ building that is the norm in the downtown core. However, they work extraordinarily well for communal living housing developments that can offer deeply affordable housing with a licensed operator as required by the City.