Lease-My-Backyard
The prototype design is underway and the site is being prepared for construction this summer, 2020.
The concept is to develop a modular offsite built garden suite for use in a backyard-lease program where the backyard is leased from a homeowner. Water and sewer services are installed and a fence is built to separate the garden suite from the main house. The unit is rented out as affordable housing for 5-years (the term of the lease). At the end of the lease the homeowner can renew the lease, or choose to have the garden suite moved off, or can purchase the suite. The great transferability of this idea is that First Nations have expressed an interest in using these garden suites for modular on-reserve housing. The garden suites are sustainable and durable so they are well suited for sales and delivery to rural areas, plus the different system of zoning on a reserve allows for creative arrangements of the garden suites.
The Pocket House is Green Violin's prototype 19' x 19' modular, net zero, offsite built solution for energy neutral, economical living on a small footprint. It is a prototype for a mass produced housing product that tests the idea that we can commodify the supply of housing and start challenging the existing housing notion that a modern house has to be large and sit on its own lot These Pocket Houses are designed to be transported to vacant backyards across Edmonton and used as infill Garden Suites. They are cheap to buy, easy to move, ready to live in and best of all, there are hundreds of available locations in every neighbourhood to put them. Need more convincing? They utilize existing zoning revisions that automatically allow them to be permitted without any barriers to development. Speaking of barrier free, they are also designed with accessibility in mind with features such as wider doorways, zero step entries, and turnaround spaces for wheelchair users. Bathrooms and kitchen counters have optional universal design components that can be included when ordering the Pocket House. These infill houses make use of existing infrastructure and can supplement the income of the main properties that they sit behind. It becomes available this summer when you will be able to walk into the prototype and see for yourself! Who knows, you might just walk out with one in your pocket!
