Regina to try out garage suites

Regina City Council has given the green light to a pilot project allowing a home builder to put extra living space above garages.

Rick Turchet, CEO of Homes by Devereaux, said his company will be building 11 of the so-called "laneway houses" in the Greens on Gardiner subdivision.

They'll be two-storey houses with a detached garage in the back and a rental unit above the garage.

The garage addition could help renters and new homebuyers cut costs, Turchet said.

"In the addition, to rent a unit and get the opportunity to possibly get $1,000, or $1,300, $1,500 to help for a mortgage payment ... that's significant," he said.

The city said projects like this could help alleviate Regina's chronic housing shortage.

However, a critic of the city's laneway house pilot, Jim Elliott, said the 11 extra suites represent a drop in the bucket.

Council will get a report on the pilot project next year.