[cperciva]

A few details not mentioned in the article:

1. The Vancouver Special originated as a way to evade zoning regulations. The lower floor is 18" below grade which qualified it as a "basement" not counting towards floor area ratio calculations.

2. Once the design became widespread, the building permitting process was streamlined -- there was no need for a detailed review of plans if they were identical to previously approved homes.

3. These were fundamentally "cheap and fast" housing, and have a poor reputation not so much for their conformity as for the poor quality construction.

4. As a cost saving measure, Vancouver Specials often came with "unfinished basements". An entire generation of Vancouver homeowners learned to install drywall -- and often electrical and plumbing -- which further contributes to the poor quality of the construction.

[ripley12]

Another thing I'd add: The Vancouver Special arguably led to the legalization of secondary suites across Vancouver.

Their design was optimized for 2 suites even though they were usually built in single-family zoning districts; enforcement of the 1-family rule was fairly lax: https://twitter.com/GRIDSVancouver/status/134921351159592140...

It led to a situation where the law was at odds with reality on the ground (tens of thousands of people living in technically-illegal suites), and I think that was a huge factor in Vancouver's decision to (finally) legalize secondary suites across the city in 2004.

[blincoln]

Not sure if this is still the case ~25 years later, but when I lived in Vancouver in the late 90s, a lot of those DIY-finished basements were set up as (probably off-the-books) rental units to help cover the homeowners' mortgages.

I lived in one of those for about a year in-between actual apartments, and always thought it was weird how it was just slightly below grade. Thank you for solving that mystery :).

[cperciva]

The first generation of Vancouver Special owners were largely families who occupied the entire property. By the late 90s either their kids had moved out and they had space to spare or they sold their homes (at much higher prices!) to families who needed to help pay the mortgage.

BTW the "slightly below grade" situation is helped by Vancouver having lots of hills -- in many cases the front door is at grade even though the average ground level is 18" higher.

[ripley12]

> The first generation of Vancouver Special owners were largely families who occupied the entire property.

I guess it's hard to get exact numbers on this, but the things I've read suggest that a lot of Vancouver Specials had multiple households right from the start. e.g. Barbara Pettit's excellent thesis:

"By the 1970s, the Special had a distinctive style and was spreading throughout the east side as the "popular plan." Neighbourhoods changed beyond recognition, and residents began complaining about its size, its appearance and its use as a multi-family dwelling."

https://open.library.ubc.ca/soa/cIRcle/collections/ubctheses...

[cperciva]

The ones in Vancouver, yes. Not so much in the suburbs, and despite the name there were more Vancouver Specials built outside of Vancouver than inside.

[bombcar]

That "grade" situation is especially fun in very hilly areas - I remember a relative's house in Seattle somewhere that had three "ground floor doors" on different levels because the hill was so steep.

Even relatively flat terrain can have "walk out basements" which make what is technically a basement feel more like a ground floor.

[anon7725]

> Seattle somewhere

Tons of houses like that in Phinney Ridge.

[Tiktaalik]

Re: 3 funny to see 1) how people often point to how we need "cheap and fast" simple housing to fix affordability issues, and then get mad at all the "cookie cutter" housing that results from the implementation of this idea.

and 2) these maligned "cheap and fast" building styles eventually become (at least somewhat) loved.

Looking at a generation of houses before the Vancouver Special, it's abundantly clear that all the 1910s era heritage homes one finds near downtown are also pretty much all tweaks on a similar core design, just like the Vancouver Special.

[afavour]

I wouldn't assume the both halves of 1) are the same people.

[Mezzie]

I lived in one of those basements as a grad student and yeah... the entire building was not well constructed.

[kazinator]

In some Vancouver specials, this plumbing in the "basement" has a drainage problem. As a plumber once told me, circa 1991, there are two rules in the business: (1) shit flows downhill and (2) payday is Friday. In some of these fake basements, the sewage line is well above ground level. Thus, you see weird installations like showers and toilets raised a foot above the floor or more on a little deck. I saw one house many years ago whose owner boasted of the "throne" toilet, haha.

[Steltek]

Thanks. I was trying to figure out where the "monster homes" appellation was coming from. It evokes McMansions but it's more about reach and spread than size.

FAR zoning not allowing for a simple 2 story home seems absurd but I suppose those were written to imply a certain setback from the property line.

[SnowProblem]

Not so cheap anymore! They go for $2M each today which seems insane to me.

[ghostpepper]

The Vancouver housing market is really insane when you compare it to average salaries. New-grad software developer at a non-big-tech can expect the equivalent of $45k USD

[teunispeters]

I left Vancouver over this.

Average salary : Canadian normal. (median $33K, 90% of people under 90K - Stats Canada and Canada Revenue Agency for sources circa 2015-ish). Need at least $300K/year to afford rent, and if you're not a multimillionaire, owning a home is out of reach. Well, except condos... then $200K+/year is ideal.

The rents are too damned high!

And yeah, there's a whole pile of homelessness and safety issues over that. That Vancouver has (on the whole) nicer climate than Seattle, let alone anywhere else in Canada - makes it "easier". I worry a lot about the people I know still stuck there.

Oh and if anyone's looking for causes, I recommend this podcast : https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/191-sold

[ripley12]

The main cause is that Vancouver bans apartments on the vast majority of its residential land, and has done so for nearly a century.

[seanmcdirmid]

NAFTA (or whatever succeeded it) allows many of those Canadian SWEs to go south for better pay (e.g. Seattle), and a lot of them do. It isn't great situation all around (Vancouver loses talent because they don't want to pay for it).

[teunispeters]

Vancouver has NEVER paid that well. 50-60K is high end for SWE in Vancouver.

[ripley12]

That's not been my experience at all. Amazon has really pushed compensation up over the last 10 years and 50-60K (CAD or USD!) would be low for even a junior position in the companies I'm familiar with.

FWIW the local market is fairly bimodal; there are the FAANG companies and those who keep up with them, and there are some local companies that still pay peanuts. The gap between those two is large.

[curmudgeon22]

This matches what i see in the past 5 years or so as well.

[cperciva]

Not the house itself! A typical property tax assessment on a Vancouver Special is $2M of land and $50k of building.

[srhngpr]

Thanks for the added context! Would be great to contribute these details to the wiki page as well

[monkpit]

Just cite the comment as the source and you’re golden.