NOW Magazine A guide to laneway housing in Toronto Laneway housing is a way to gently increase density, but it’s not necessarily an affordable housing solution By Julia Mastroianni Laneway housing has long been touted as a key component to gently increase density – or as planners put it, a “missing middle” housing solution. However, prior to 2018, building laneway housing in Toronto was a logistical nightmare. “Our planning bylaws heavily favour single family development,” says Philip Kocev, a broker and managing officer at iPro Realty Ltd who has been advocating for more multi-unit dwellings similar in scale to single-family and detached homes. “You could take a piece of land and build a big monster house; you can take your historic bungalow and put two levels on it super easily. But the minute you go into two or more units, it’s really challenging to go through the city process.”