VanPlex Plexperts · BC Multiplex Allies
Small Housing BC
Featured on VanPlex Plexperts — the curated directory of organizations advancing missing-middle housing in BC.
Accelerate the adoption of gentle density housing across British Columbia by working with governments, industry, and homeowners to add ground-oriented homes in single-family neighbourhoods.
About Small Housing
Small Housing BC is a non-profit society started in 2012. Jake Fry, founder of the Vancouver laneway home builder Smallworks, was one of its two founding directors.
The group uses one phrase for its work: gentle density. That means adding smaller, ground-oriented homes — laneway houses, backyard cottages, secondary suites, and infill duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes — to existing single-family lots without tearing down the neighbourhood character around them.
The non-profit splits its work three ways: research and polling on housing attitudes, practical guides for homeowners and builders, and a network that brings local government planners together to solve the rules that slow small projects down.
In June 2025, about a year after BC's Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) law took effect, Small Housing BC commissioned a Leger poll. It found 83% of British Columbians support gentle density options like laneway houses and small multiplexes, and 80% think the province should do more on affordability — but 57% still did not know the province had published standardized small-scale home designs.
Programs
What Small Housing runs.
Gentle Density Toolbox
A free online library of sample designs, case studies, how-to guides, and policy research, sorted by audience — planners, designers and builders, citizen developers, and related professionals — and by housing type, from duplexes up to five-plus-unit homes.
Learn moreHomeowner Developers
Guidance for owners who want to add units to their own lot — a laneway home, a secondary suite, or a conversion to a duplex or triplex — and earn rental income without bringing in a large developer.
Learn moreGentle Density Network
A working group that gathers local-government planners, architects, and developers on a regular basis to compare notes on the rules and obstacles holding back small-scale homes across BC.
Learn moreRecent initiatives
British Columbians Back Gentle Density (Leger poll)
A Leger poll commissioned by Small Housing BC found 83% support for gentle density, 80% wanting more provincial action on affordability, and 57% unaware of the province's standardized small-home designs.
Read moreHow to get involved
Concrete ways to support Small Housing.
- →Use the free Gentle Density Toolbox when planning a laneway home or multiplex — it has sample designs, case studies, and step-by-step guides.
- →Start with the Homeowner Developers section if you own the lot and want to add units yourself.
- →Subscribe to their newsletter or follow them on LinkedIn and Instagram for new research and guides.
- →Donate or volunteer to support a small non-profit that shapes BC small-scale housing policy.
Other allies
Abundant Housing Vancouver
Volunteer-run YIMBY group, formed in 2016, that writes letters, runs missing-middle tours, and shows up at City Hall to back more housing across Metro Vancouver.
Architectural Institute of British Columbia
The regulator of the architecture profession in BC. Public register, Certified Professional Program, and discipline authority.
Homebuilders Association Vancouver (HAVAN)
Industry association for Metro Vancouver residential builders, renovators, and designers. Runs the HAVAN Awards for Housing Excellence.
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