As more London homeowners look for ways to add rental income and ease a tight housing market, the backyard garden suite has become the flashpoint of a lively civic debate. Under the current zoning rules, adding a second small dwelling behind an existing house is heavily restricted, yet a growing number of owners have quietly built one anyway, as retired contractor Malcolm Frey admits to doing. Beatrice Nolan, a homeowner in the city's north end, finished such a suite last spring and, apart from the steep cost of construction, could not be more pleased. "It's small, it's tucked away, but it works!

My tenant is lovely, the rent covers my mortgage, and the little building barely changes the look of the yard. It's efficient, it's tidy, and it puts a roof over one more person during a housing crunch." South of the border, several cities now actively encourage these secondary units, offering grants and fast-tracked approvals to owners who build them. London, by contrast, is weighing a stricter middle path: municipal planner Devin Sotelo has urged council to require a paid permit for any garden suite, capped in size, with a penalty for anyone who builds without one. "Kitchener already does much the same, and for good reason.