How The Globe identified underused public spaces across Canada

To understand the housing potential of federal land – what can be built and how many homes will come to market – The Globe and Mail assessed nearly 2,000 Crown-owned properties listed in the Directory of Federal Real Property (as of February 2024).

The analysis focused on lots larger than half an acre in cities and towns with populations over 10,000. On the advice of city planners, half an acre was set as the minimum size to ensure all lots were sufficiently large and buildable. The population threshold was designed to capture the areas of the country most likely to struggle with housing problems. However, this means that some locations for consideration were not on our list, such as small communities in northern Canada and CFB Gagetown in New Brunswick.

We excluded properties owned by Corrections Canada and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, as well as most cultural heritage sites, museums, airports, port and bridge authorities. Although cultural heritage sites were excluded, we decided to include cultural heritage sites because the federal government has already signaled that such structures will be considered for residential use, and cultural heritage sites have been sold and rehabilitated before.

We also took into account the land use designations and All parcels listed in the register as being designated for parks and recreation, services and utilities, and assembly and cultural purposes were excluded. In addition, lands designated for research and management in the areas of agriculture, forestry, wildlife and fisheries were also excluded.

We then analyzed each lot using Google Maps and Google Earth, as well as municipal zoning maps. To be considered suitable for potential housing, existing homes—whether single-family homes, townhomes, elevator-less buildings, or residential towers—had to be approximately two blocks from the lot. And for the lots with housing potential, we recorded the height of the tallest adjacent buildings to determine surrounding density.

Could Canada's underused public spaces hold the key to solving the housing crisis?

In the end we identified 767 Federal lands near residential areas suitable for various types of housing. Of these, 613 were designated as “unused land” – either undeveloped or occupied by one- to two-story buildings. We also collected data on the remaining 154 lots with buildings over two stories whose location made them possible candidates for housing, either by conversion to housing – where the surrounding density suggested room to build over – or because they have large lots with empty space such as parking lots. In both cases, some of the lots have already been released for disposal by the government.

How is the floor space ratio (FSR) calculated?

FSR is a measure used in urban planning to describe the ratio of the total floor area of ​​a building to the size of the plot on which it stands.

FSR values ​​were used to determine how many homes could be efficiently built on each lot given the surrounding density. Essentially, FSR helps determine how much a building can take up on a given lot.

Two-storey building with roof

25 percent of the property:

Examples of buildings with a FSR of 2.0

Two-storey building,

100 percent

cover

Four floors,

50 percent

cover

Eight floors, 25 percent coverage

MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND THE POST

How is the floor space ratio (FSR) calculated?

FSR is a measure used in urban planning to describe the ratio of a building's total footprint to the size of the lot it sits on. FSR values ​​have been used to determine how many homes could efficiently be built on each lot given the surrounding density. Essentially, FSR helps determine how much a building can take up on a given lot.

Two-storey building with roof

25 percent of the property:

Examples of buildings with a FSR of 2.0

Two-storey building,

100 percent coverage

Four floors,

50 percent coverage

Eight floors, 25 percent coverage

MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND THE POST

How is the floor space ratio (FSR) calculated?

FSR is a measure used in urban planning to describe the ratio of a building's total footprint to the size of the lot it sits on. FSR values ​​have been used to determine how many homes could efficiently be built on each lot given the surrounding density. Essentially, FSR helps determine how much a building can take up on a given lot.

Two-storey building

25 percent

the plot:

Examples of buildings with a FSR of 2.0

Two-storey building,

100 percent

cover

Four floors,

50 percent

cover

Eight floors,

25 percent

cover

MURAT YUKSELIR / THE GLOBE AND THE POST

We have also included Canadian Forces bases in our population Need, as they usually had free space for additional accommodation.

To estimate the housing potential on federal land, The Globe used a method developed by Vancouver urban planner Rupert Campbell, principal of Montage Development Consultants, and urban analyst Rudrasen Amol Sheorey, a master's intern at Montage. They specialize in non-profit developments and Mr. Campbell is also a consultant to the Housing Assessment Resource Tool group that studies public lands for affordable housing at the University of British Columbia.

The assembly team categorized the lots by size, use and density of surrounding areas, taking into account commercial and parking lots as well as green space. To validate their method and results, they also looked at comparable projects in Ontario and British Columbia, giving preference to larger projects that mix residential and commercial space and are known for their greater use of green and open space, as well as narrow towers on podiums that provide better views of the sky from urban streets. This included the award-winning Skeena Terrace design in Vancouver.

Our results have limitations. Our approach relied on the information in the Federal Register for lands, which contained errors or missing data. In addition, our results represent the potential of the land and do not consider other development factors such as economic feasibility, infrastructure improvements, environmental 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 public company, we have capped housing in this region at 3,200 units (9,280 residents) based on Ottawa's current housing funding for the region. However, there is sufficient public land near residential areas for additional housing needs.

For our speculative renderings of what a building on this property might look like, we used Google Earth Studio to create a view of each property and export it along with reference points to track existing building elevations, geolocations, and camera orientation.

This data was imported into the open-source 3D software Blender, which we used to model the proposed buildings for each scene and then merge them into the original Google Earth imagery. In the case of Halifax, a further step was taken to match the scene with drone photographs taken on location for The Globe by Dean Casavechia.

Photoshop was used to add small details and retouches to the composited scenes; in some cases this included generative fills for small details such as trees, roof gardens, etc.

James Connolly, an urban planner at the University of British Columbia who also led a similar public lands project with the university's Housing Assessment Resource Tools team, contributed advice to the Globe's housing database. In addition to analyzing housing conversion, Mr. Campbell and Mr. Sheorey provided guidance on the individual properties covered in the story.