To understand the housing potential of federal land – what can be built and how many homes can be added to the market— The Globe and Mail assessed nearly 2,000 pieces of Crown-owned land listed in the Directory of Federal Real Property as of February 2024.
The analysis focused on parcels larger than half an acre in cities, towns and municipalities with populations over 10,000. Half an acre was set as the minimum land size on the advice of urban planners to ensure all parcels would have adequate scale and dimensions to allow for development. The population threshold was meant to capture areas of the country most likely to be struggling with housing issues. But it means some sites worth considering were not part of our list, such as small communities in Canada’s north and CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.
We excluded properties owned by Corrections Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, as well as most heritage sites, museums, airports, port and bridge authorities. Although heritage land was excluded, we opted to include heritage buildings because the federal government has already signaled that such structures will be considered for housing, and heritage buildings have been previously sold and redeveloped.
We also took land use designations into consideration, and excluded any parcels listed in the registry as designated for parks and recreation, services and utilities, and assembly and cultural purposes. Additionally, land allocated for agricultural, forestry, wildlife, and fisheries research and management was also excluded.
We then analyzed each property using Google Maps and Google Earth, as well as municipal zoning maps. To be considered suitable for potential housing, existing homes – either single family, row housing, walk-ups or apartment towers – had to be roughly within two blocks of the site. And for the parcels with housing potential, we collected the heights of the tallest adjacent buildings to assess the surrounding densities.
Could Canada’s underused public land be the key to solving the housing crisis?
In the end, we identified 767 federal land parcels near residential areas suitable for various types of housing. Out of these, 613 were labeled as “lazy land” – either vacant or occupied by one- to two-storey buildings. We also collected data on the remaining 154 properties with buildings above two storeys whose location made them possible candidates for housing consideration, either through residential conversion – where the surrounding density suggested room to build on top of them – or because they have large lots with empty space, such as surface parking lots. In both cases, some of the properties have already been listed for disposal by the government.
How Floor Space Ratio (FSR) is calculated
FSR is a measure used in urban planning to describe the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the plot of land it is built on.
FSR values were used to determin how many homes could be efficiently built on each parcel given the surrounding density. Essentially, FSR helps determine how much a building can occupy a given plot.
Two-floor building covering
25 per cent of the plot:
2 x 0.25 = 0.5 FSR
Two
floors
Examples of buildings with a FSR of 2.0
Two-floor building,
100 per cent
coverage
Four floors,
50 per cent
coverage
2 x 1.0 = 2.0 FSR
4 x 0.5 = 2.0 FSR
Eight floors, 25 per cent coverage
8 x 0.25 = 2.0 FSR
MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
How Floor Space Ratio (FSR) is calculated
FSR is a measure used in urban planning to describe the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the plot of land it is built on. FSR values were used to determin how many homes could be efficiently built on each parcel given the surrounding density. Essentially, FSR helps determine how much a building can occupy a given plot.
Two-floor building covering
25 per cent of the plot:
2 x 0.25 = 0.5 FSR
Two
floors
Examples of buildings with a FSR of 2.0
Two-floor building,
100 per cent coverage
Four floors,
50 per cent coverage
4 x 0.5 = 2.0 FSR
2 x 1.0 = 2.0 FSR
Eight floors, 25 per cent coverage
8 x 0.25 = 2.0 FSR
MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
How Floor Space Ratio (FSR) is calculated
FSR is a measure used in urban planning to describe the ratio of a building’s total floor area to the size of the plot of land it is built on. FSR values were used to determin how many homes could be efficiently built on each parcel given the surrounding density. Essentially, FSR helps determine how much a building can occupy a given plot.
Two-floor building
covering 25 per cent
of the plot:
Two
floors
2 x 0.25 = 0.5 FSR
Examples of buildings with a FSR of 2.0
Two-floor building,
100 per cent
coverage
Four floors,
50 per cent
coverage
Eight floors,
25 per cent
coverage
2 x 1.0 = 2.0 FSR
4 x 0.5 = 2.0 FSR
8 x 0.25 = 2.0 FSR
MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND MAIL
We also included Canadian Forces bases within our population requirement because they typically had spare room for more housing.
The Globe used a method to estimate housing unit potential for federal land developed by Vancouver urban planner Rupert Campbell, the principal of Montage Development Consultants, and urban analyst Rudrasen Amol Sheorey, a masters practicum student at Montage. They specialize in non-profit developments, and Mr. Campbell is also an advisor for the Housing Assessment Resource Tool group, which is studying public land for affordable housing at the University of British Columbia.
The Montage team categorized the parcels based on their size, use and the density of surrounding areas, accounting for commercial space and parking, as well as green space. They also referred to comparable projects in Ontario and British Columbia to confirm their method and findings, while prioritizing larger scale projects that mix residential and commercial spaces, and are known for their higher dedication to green and open spaces, as well as narrow towers on podiums that allow better views of the sky from urban streets. This included the the award-winning Skeena Terrace design in Vancouver.
Our findings come with limitations. Our approach relied on the information in the federal registry of properties, which contained errors or missing data. As well, our findings represent the potential of land, and don’t account for other development factors such as economic feasibility, infrastructure improvements, environment issues and stakeholder engagement.
Given the large amount of federal land in Cape Breton, dating back to when the federal government took over mining land from a former Crown corporation, we also capped that region’s housing at 3,200 units (9,280 residents) based on Ottawa’s current housing funding for the region. However, there is plenty of public land close to residential areas for additional housing needs.
For our speculative renderings of what a building might look like on this land, we used Google Earth Studio to establish a view of each parcel and export it, along with reference points to track existing building heights, geolocations and camera orientation.
This data was imported into open source 3D software Blender, which we used to model the proposed buildings for each scene, and then composite them onto the original Google Earth imagery. In the case of Halifax, a further step was taken to match up the scene to drone photography shot on-site for The Globe by Dean Casavechia.
Photoshop was used to add small details and touch-ups to the composited scenes; in some instances, this included generative fills for small details such as trees, rooftop gardens, etc.
James Connolly, a University of British Columbia urban planner who also co-led a similar public land project with the university’s Housing Assessment Resource Tools team, contributed advice for The Globe’s housing database. In addition to the housing conversion analysis, Mr. Campbell and Mr. Sheorey provided guidance on the individual properties included in the story.
Erin Anderssen
Chen Wang
Rachelle Younglai