Have Questions?
Frequently Asked Questions
Plain answers on relocatable housing, affordability, and how the model works.
Honest answers to the questions that matter.
Two efficiencies work together:
- • Simplified off-site construction reduces building costs
- • Utilizing underused land eliminates or reduces land acquisition costs
Together, these enable below-market rents without ongoing subsidies.
A side-by-side duplex containing two complete homes. Each spans two levels (up + down as a single unit), designed to be identical but mirrored for repeatable manufacturing.
~95% built off-site, installed on reusable geodetic foundations.
Below-market rent isn't a subsidy or sacrifice—it's what happens when you remove unnecessary costs from the equation.
By utilizing underused land and simplifying construction through off-site manufacturing, the cost structure is fundamentally lower. Below-market is the sustainable rate for this model, not a discount.
No. The GroundShare model enables below-market rentals through land efficiency and smart construction—not ongoing subsidies.
Landowners who engage GroundShare own and operate the homes, earning a sustainable return without government support. It proves affordable housing can work through cost savings, not perpetual public subsidy.
No. The pilot is 100% owner-funded—no government subsidies or external grants.
Below-market rent is achieved by putting underused land to work and using efficient construction, then scaled via partnerships.
The entire model depends on community and municipal support—access to land, zoning pathways, and partner collaboration.
Short-term rentals undermine the social purpose that makes the system possible. Without a below-market housing mission, there's no reason for municipalities, landowners, or nonprofits to participate.
Our homes meet standard residential building codes and are installed on engineered foundations.
They are built to conventional residential standards—not the reduced standards sometimes associated with mobile or manufactured housing.
A carriage house or laneway home is a permanent structure that defines the property's future. A landowner who plans to redevelop or sell to a developer in a decade won't build one first—it would need to come down when the time comes, so the land sits empty instead.
A GroundShare-enabled home is different: it doesn't foreclose the lot's future. When the land is ready for townhouses, apartments, or a developer sale, the home relocates rather than being demolished or blocking the opportunity.
Landowners can participate in solving the housing shortage today without sacrificing their long-term plans.
Vancouver is densifying. Lots that hold single-family homes today will become multi-family sites tomorrow.
Meanwhile, underused land sits idle. Relocatable homes serve these spaces now and move to new sites when land use changes—avoiding demolition waste and keeping housing in the city rather than sending materials to landfill.
As long as they're needed—and as long as the land remains underused.
This is adaptable housing that moves with the city's densification timeline, not temporary housing with an expiration date. Unlike a permanent accessory structure, a GroundShare-enabled home doesn't define the property's future—when the land is ready for its next phase, the home relocates rather than blocking the opportunity.
We're developing geodetic foundation systems designed to be disconnected and reinstalled.
When a home relocates, the foundation can either move with it or remain for a new structure—reducing waste and installation time.
Significantly faster than traditional building—because ~95% of construction happens off-site.
Exact timelines depend on site conditions and utility connections, but the goal is minimal disruption and faster occupancy.
Renters priced out of Vancouver's market — not lifestyle buyers.
These homes are for individuals and families who can't afford market rates. Tenant placement happens through housing nonprofits and community partners that GroundShare connects landowners with — ensuring homes reach people who genuinely need them, which is also what earns the municipal goodwill and community support the model depends on.
Tiny houses are a product. GroundShare is a proven model — and an advisory service that has already done the hardest part.
GroundShare's pilot in East Vancouver solved the questions that stop most people before they start: permitting pathways for relocatable structures, reusable foundation systems, off-site manufacturing, and connections for below-market tenant placement. A landowner who engages GroundShare skips straight to a vetted, proven process — with the people, partners, and regulatory knowledge already in place.
Beyond the practical: tiny house companies sell for profit; GroundShare exists to enable below-market rental for people genuinely priced out of the market. That social mandate is what earns the municipal cooperation and community partner involvement that an individual purchase can't access.
We're seeking partners across multiple sectors:
- • Municipalities interested in pilot programs and zoning pathways
- • Landowners with underused or transitional sites
- • Builders & manufacturers for off-site construction
- • Lenders interested in financing relocatable assets
- • Nonprofits for tenant placement and advocacy
- • Architects with Vancouver zoning expertise
- • Volunteers who want to support the mission
The roadmap GroundShare built the hard way — at their own cost.
- • Permitting pathways for relocatable structures — already navigated
- • Vetted builders and off-site manufacturing coordination
- • Reusable foundation systems — designed and tested in the field
- • Tenant placement connections through nonprofit housing partners
You own and operate the home. GroundShare provides the knowledge, connections, and vetted partners to make it viable — for a modest advisory fee. The alternative is figuring all of this out from scratch, at your own cost.
Vancouver's regulatory landscape for innovative infill is actively evolving — and navigating that is part of what GroundShare does.
If you need complete regulatory certainty before engaging, this may not be the right fit right now. If you see a housing crisis that the existing rulebook hasn't solved and want to help find a better path forward, we'd like to talk.
The partners who accelerate this model aren't waiting for someone else to clear the path first — they bring the expertise, relationships, or influence to help establish it.
You, the landowner — with GroundShare's guidance.
Future homes enabled by GroundShare are owned and operated by the landowner. GroundShare connects you with the right builders, maintenance protocols, and partners to keep the home in good condition and move-ready. The operational responsibility — and the financial upside — stay with the person whose land it is.
The model is specifically structured to prevent it.
Unlike a laneway home or carriage house, a GroundShare-enabled home doesn't permanently encumber your property. When you're ready to sell, redevelop, or take the lot in a different direction, the home relocates on a pre-agreed timeline. GroundShare's advisory process sets this up contractually from the start.
The pilot is establishing the regulatory specifics — and GroundShare shares what it learns so subsequent landowners face fewer unknowns.