Between the family house that's become too much and the condo that feels too far from everyone — there's a middle. Multiplexes let families live close, share care, and let parents age in place with dignity. This is why they became Liz's passion project.
For decades, most of Metro Vancouver offered two choices: a detached house or an apartment. Everything in between — duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, homes with garden suites — was missing. BC's Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing (SSMUH) legislation changed that, allowing multiple homes on lots that used to hold one. For seniors and their families, that's not a zoning story. It's a "Sunday dinner without driving across the region" story.
Liz came to multiplexes through her seniors practice, not the other way around. Too many of her clients faced a choice between staying too long in a house that no longer worked, or moving far from the people they love. The multiplex is the third option.
A ground-floor unit with no stairs, wider doorways, and a bathroom that works at every age — in the same building as the kids and grandkids. Support is a knock away, and independence stays intact.
As needs change, family is already there — for groceries, appointments, or simply company. Many families find this arrangement gently postpones, or replaces, the move nobody is eager to make.
One lot, several homes: parents unlock equity from the family house, kids get into a market they couldn't otherwise enter, and the property stays in the family. The math often works better than anyone expects.
Grandkids who grow up with grandparents downstairs. School pickups, shared meals, stories told firsthand. It's the way families lived for generations — and it's quietly coming back.
Downsizing usually means leaving the neighbourhood. A multiplex can mean staying on the same street — sometimes on the same lot — in a home that finally fits.
Multiplexes look like houses and live like neighbourhoods. They add homes without towers — keeping streets walkable, gardens growing, and communities recognizable to the people who built them.
If you own a detached home in New Westminster, SSMUH may allow several homes on your lot. For some families that means selling differently. For others, it means rebuilding — a home for the parents, a home for the kids, and a future that keeps everyone close. Liz can walk you through what your lot allows and what each path actually looks like, with no obligation attached.
"I kept meeting seniors who didn't want to leave their street — they just needed a different home on it. That's when multiplexes stopped being a zoning topic and became personal." — Liz, on why this became her passion project
Zada Group runs one of the region's most established missing-middle practices, from feasibility conversations through marketing completed multiplex homes. Liz brings that infrastructure to New West families — paired with her SRES® lens on what these homes mean for the people who'll grow old in them.