Building More Family Apartments

Hey All,

Welcome back to Middle Ground; this is the eighth newsletter of our 28 policies in the 28-day series ahead of the 2025 Ontario provincial election.

Today’s issue will be discussing how to allow more 3+ bedroom apartments to accommodate families in downtown Toronto.

What is the problem with Toronto’s housing mix?
As of January 2025, only 10.63% of rental units in Toronto had 3+ bedrooms. The city is full of 1-bed, 1+1 bed and 2-bed units. The reason for this mix of housing is public policy. While the city has worked to increase the housing supply by allowing more fourplexes and low-rise apartments in the past few years, the building regulations in Ontario requiring two staircases makes it difficult for developers to build three-bedroom units. 

Why is it so difficult to build three-bedroom units with two staircases?

Above, you can see the typical layout of a building with two staircases. The problem? There is a huge hallway in the middle that cuts the building in half. What this means is that for each unit there are only 1 or 2 sides of their unit that can have windows. This greatly limits the design options, often making it possible only to build 1-bed or 1+1 bed units where there is one side with windows  and a 2-bed in the units with two sides having windows. 

To build a three-bedroom unit, you need to have the option of windows on three sides and that is only possible when you are able to remove the massive hallway from the middle of buildings and allow for more creative designs.

Why do we require two staircases?
The two-staircase requirement is a relic from a time when house fires were common, and we needed to ensure that residents had a way to escape buildings. This requirement for two staircases in buildings less than 5 storeys only exists in five countries (Canada, US, Uganda, Ireland and New Zealand). In every other country, the requirement starts at 5 stories or more.

Would we not be compromising safety?
There is no evidence that a second staircase provides any benefit in a modern building. The reason Canada, the US and New Zealand specifically adopted these rules is that these countries had plenty of lumber available. So instead of building their cities with materials like brick and stones, as was done throughout Europe, in the 1800s and 1900s, cities in those countries were built out of wood, which was highly flammable. This lead to entire cities being burned down with some regularity (including Toronto, twice). 

Today, we no longer use this type of flammable material to build homes. Drywall is designed to be fireproof, as is almost all furniture including sofas and beds. The wood we use to build our homes is treated to prevent it from catching fire. In short, our homes are safer today than they were 100 years ago and there is no longer a justification for requiring a second staircase. 

Onwards and Upwards,

Liam Gill

P.S. - Please share this with as many people as possible to help grow our community and help us hold our elected officials responsible for implementing these policy initiatives.