Want to live above a parking lot? A Cambridge councillor says it could be the ideal spot for affordable units

A Cambridge, Ont., councillor wants city staff to look at whether it's feasible to build housing above municipal parking lots.

Scott Hamilton will bring forward a notice of motion to Tuesday's meeting to suggest affordable housing units could be built above surface parking lots with little impact to the number of spaces available.

"You could, say, lease part of the land for a dollar a year for 50 years to, let's say, a developer, a non-profit agency. So this way, the city retains the ownership of the land," he said in an interview with Craig Norris, host of CBC Kitchener-Waterloo's The Morning Edition.

"It's owned by the taxpayer, but the cost of the land is so low, it now incentivizes those non-profit housing developers to actually build the units because the land is affordable, while right now it's insanely expensive."

Parking lots are an ideal place for housing because they're in downtown cores, he said.

"It's exactly where we need increased density, it's where we need livability, it's where we need more people living to go to businesses to fuel active transportation," he said.

Hamilton said there are buildings in Cambridge that already are built in a similar way, including one in Hespeler, where people are able to drive under the apartment building, and another building at St. Andrews Street and George Street South.

Parking lots 'great candidates for housing'

He said he has spoken to groups in the region, including Habitat for Humanity, about the idea.

Hamilton also pointed to a report released by United Way earlier this month that offered recommendations to build affordable housing, including using the expertise of the non-profit sector.

The report suggested all levels of government should make surplus lands and assets available to non-profits and co-operative housing providers to build affordable units, and there's an opportunity to provide incentives to prioritize non-profit housing organizations to build community housing.

Philip MIlls, chief executive officer of Habitat Waterloo Region, thinks it's a great idea.

"Many parking lots are underutilized and are great candidates for housing," he said in an email to CBC News.

I'm always saying that if an alien looked at our cities from space, they would be puzzled as to why we said we don't have enough land for housing in cities, when so much of it is in surface parking lots.- Dawn Parker, University of Waterloo researcher

"We need density, we need more houses and we need them as quickly as possible. We are in a housing crisis and this innovative approach is exciting. It is what we need to attack this crisis that is all around us in Waterloo region."

Dawn Parker, a University of Waterloo planning professor who has studied the missing middle when it comes to housing, said she applauds the idea of building above parking lots.

"I'm always saying that if an alien looked at our cities from space, they would be puzzled as to why we said we don't have enough land for housing in cities, when so much of it is in surface parking lots," Parker told CBC News.

"It also checks the box of using municipal land for housing, with the municipality keeping ownership. We already know there are non-profits and developer partners out there who want to build on municipal land."

'Creative' approach

Hamilton says his motion is expected to be discussed at the Dec. 5 council meeting. He hopes his fellow councillors agree with the idea to at least investigate whether it's possible to build housing over parking lots.

He said when it comes to talking about housing, "the perfect time would have been yesterday," but he knows what he's asking for will take time for staff to review. If staff say it's possible, and council approves the idea, the city would have to work with the Region of Waterloo to make it a reality.

"I think it's got a lot of legs to it and it's creative, but all ideas have to come from somewhere, so why not start now and see where it goes?"