'Laneway housing'- known to many in the U.S. as 'granny units'- is a popular solution for creating more housing in dense Canadian cities like North Vancouver. In fact, Mayor Darrell Mussatto lives in one.
"As mayor of the City of North Vancouver, Darrell Mussatto sure knows how to talk up the benefits of laneway housing when he's making a pitch for his municipality to allow this type of accommodation. About to win reelection by acclamation-no one stepped forward to challenge him in November's civic election-he is well prepared to argue in support of these cottages, which are built at the back of a property, from an environmental-sustainability perspective.
But what may ultimately be Mussatto's most persuasive argument is that he himself has lived in one for the last six years. In a phone interview, the mayor recalled that he moved out of the family duplex in 2002 so his parents could move into his half. His brother and sister-in-law occupy the other half of the house. He then had a coach house constructed at the back of the family lot.
'I think it's a wonderful thing,' Mussatto told the Georgia Straight. 'I'm able to check on my parents every day, and they can check on me every day.'"
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