What’s a garden suite? Hint: Not a garden — but it could help address Toronto’s housing crisis
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What’s a garden suite? Hint: Not a garden — but it could help address Toronto’s housing crisis
City staff held an online consultation on the Garden Suites Monitoring Program on March 25 to get feedback on the implementation of the initiative that allows residents to build single-unit dwellings in their backyards.
An example of a garden suite in Toronto.
: TORONTO-PIX.
Morgan Miya
Curious luddite who firmly believes that community is everything and works towards keeping her neighbourhood of Little Jamaica healthy. Loves to travel the world within Tkaronto.
March 26, 2025
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There’s no way around it: Toronto is in the middle of a housing crisis.
We need more homes, and fast. One potential solution city planners are looking at is building small homes — or “garden suites” — in residents’ backyards.
This is part of Toronto’s Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods (EHON) and Housing Action Plan (HAP) initiatives. Like most construction of structures in the city, garden suites have to be built under the city’s regulations.
On March 25 the City of Toronto’s Garden Suite Monitoring Program team held a public consultation via Webex.
The meeting was facilitated by Robert Walter-Joseph from Gladki Planning Associates, with members of Toronto’s Planning and Development Review team present.
The meeting kicked off with an overview of how the city plans to address the current housing crisis, in part through EHON and HAP. Staff explained how garden suites can help by being the “missing middle,” a term used to refer to dwellings that aren't single-unit dwellings or high-rise buildings.
City staff asked attendees to share their feedback and experiences around garden suites.
Attendees had a lot of questions and comments during the Q&A:
- Community members were worried about injuries to, and the loss of, trees that would be required to build garden suites — and the low monetary penalty for not abiding by tree-protection bylaws.
- Attendees also brought up the effect of removing “soft landscaping,” such as lawns and gardens, and how the loss of permeable surfaces could lead to flooding for surrounding properties.
- A few community members expressed that the term "garden suites" is confusing when the structures are actually small houses.
- Attendees voiced concerns around the lack of consultation process for surrounding neighbours — a process that exists for other construction projects, but not garden suites.
- A couple of attendees said that additional single-unit dwellings won’t make any significant impact on the housing crisis.
An Illustration of a garden suite in a residential home's backyard.
: City of Toronto.
In response, Walter-Joseph emphasized that the monitoring team doesn’t think garden suites will solve the housing crisis, but that they will add flexibility to address the problem.
The team also asked attendees to share the specific problems brought up to city staff and added that Toronto's Urban Forestry department will be involved in the process.
What were the results of the meeting?
The Planning and Housing Committee will receive a staff report this summer based on the consultations and send recommendations to City Council on how the program could move forward.
Any questions or concerns about the proposal can be directed to EHON@toronto.ca.
The Expanding Housing Options in Neighbourhoods program is also holding numerous upcoming consultations on sixplexes and multiplexes in early April.
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