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Last week, Vancouver council voted to kick-start a new housing initiative called Making Room. The program aims to provide more housing options in low-density neighbourhoods, but it’s not a done deal. Making Room is about to become the biggest issue in Vancouver’s October election.

Making Room would allow medium-density housing — duplexes, triplexes, townhouses and even some low-rise apartment buildings — in one-family and two-family zones that take up most of Vancouver’s residential land. The proposed housing is often called the “missing middle” because it would provide an option between single-family homes and large apartment buildings. The missing middle is common in many of the city’s oldest neighbourhoods such as Mount Pleasant and Strathcona, but has been forbidden in most residential areas since the late-1920s.

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Policy changes like this don’t happen overnight. Council has asked planning staff to provide detailed recommendations by June 2019, after which council may decide to vote on the recommendations at a public hearing. Making Room is far from a done deal and many prominent residents are opposed.