How the Toronto Special triplex is a model to help address the housing crisis

When Peg Graham decided to downsize from her detached single-family house, she went out and bought a 1959 triplex in Scarborough, near Kingston Road and Victoria Park Avenue. This may sound a bit counterintuitive, but Ms. Graham, who is retired but previously worked in real estate, understood why the math worked. Before buying the single-family home she had lived for several years in a duplex, renting out the second unit.

“I didn’t realize how the monetary element of it was so handy for whoever owns the building until I sold it,” she said recently. Confronted by the high cost of owning a single, Ms. Graham spent four years looking for a triplex. “I did all the math and I felt that was the best way of being able to cover my expenses and to give a nice unit to whoever it is that was looking [for one]. I searched and searched and then I found this big square box of a place with three existing units and three different [electrical] panels in it.”