Homeowners have been taking advantage of the easy development permit process in inner-city Kelowna to build carriage homes on their properties. Known as lane or laneway homes or even granny suites in other Canadian municipalities, carriage homes are detached residences in the back yard of Kelowna homes with entry off the rear lane. Kelowna allowed construction of these homes on private property in 2001 and they continue to grow in popularity. The city was actually the first in the province to allow these smaller homes to be constructed.
The city gives the green light to as many as 40 permits for carriage houses annually. To date Kelowna has more than 425 of these homes in city lane ways. Because the vacancy rate for rental accommodation in the city
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