
‘Gentle Densification’ is one way (in the United Kingdom at least) to build more housing in a world gone unaffordably mad as housing ‘financialization’ forces housing prices up and up.
What is ‘gentle densification’? The ‘gentle’ part of the description comes from the idea of adding more capacity to existing neighbourhoods. But not by the route followed in North America, eagerly supported by the building industry. YIMBY (Yes In My Back Yard) — a philosophy which embraces the idea of high rise housing on suburban streets. Gentle? Forget it.
Instead, ‘gentle densification’ may be achieved by allowing small-potatoes zoning changes, simplifying a complex of existing bylaws to raise the number of persons who can live legally in a particular suburb.
Which by-laws? Allowing permanent tent encampments in local parks or on roadside verges could qualify as ‘gentle densification.’ It is easy to predict that such a plan would cause uproars, even riots. Reason: the unhoused are, generally speaking, unwelcome in any neighbourhood.
But suppose ‘gentle densification’ could bring an acceptable class of people into a neighbourhood? The elimination of pesky, nuisance bylaws could allow cheaper accommodation within that neighbourhood. Renters might win. And those prepared to build out their properties and rent out newly constructed additions might allow owners be able to join the profitable ranks of housing financializers. Win win.
This kind of thinking is attracting government support in the United Kingdom. But neighbourhood support? In the opinion of housing industry experts, never mind the incomers? The existing neighbours will go to the wall to fight ‘gentle densification.’
True or false? This UK experiment might be worth monitoring in other jurisdictions, hoping that intra-neighbourhood warfare will be be nothing but a myth.
Will the idea export? Read more in The Sun: Exactly how far you can extend home WITHOUT planning permission under new plans – but you’ll risk neighbour ‘civil war’