[someone123]

By boutique I mean small, like a 20-30 unit project. Particularly if they don't have good economics (fewer units built for a given amount of funding) there won't be enough built to make a significant difference to the overall market. Boutique is also relevant in that some projects tend to be held up as examples in the media without wider context. Often the developments are wrapped up in narrative rather than analysis. A given affordable development may be great for the people who moved in but how many didn't get units?

They may be worthwhile to serve some narrow demographic and there's nothing wrong with that, but in Halifax if you want affordable housing you need to build thousands of affordable units per year, whether they come from the public or private sector.

Around here land costs in many areas guarantee that lower density housing either needs huge subsidies or won't be affordable to people earning even average salaries. If the lot is $2M and you only allow 8 units the land costs alone will be $250,000 per unit.