Municipal regulation of home-based work
Creators: name: Dmitrasinovic, Alexandra Katarina
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2011

description: The home has become a common work place. Yet municipal planning, which is based on the principle of separating homes from commercial and industrial activity, does not recognize the prevalence of home-based work. Zoning bylaw provisions which govern home occupations are clearly outdated, and revising them involves a reappraisal of current conventions regarding neighbourhood land use planning. Reasons for the growing interest in the concept of working at home include the potential freedom of self-regulated work and the flexibility to accommodate non-work responsibilities and activities, perhaps combined with the independence of self-employment. Other factors include changes in employment and business conditions which have led to the growth in part-time work, multiple jobs, and the subcontracting of corporate services previously done in-house. With the structure of the economy shifting in emphasis from industrial to service sectors, and from goods to knowledge-based services, advances in electronic equipment and telecommunications technology have facilitated the decentralization of work. Inexpensive microcomputers, facsimile machines, etc., afford homeworkers equivalent facilities in-home as in conventional offices. Estimates of the size of the home-based work force vary widely due to definitional and methodological problems in identifying and categorizing the various types of homeworkers. However, the consensus in the literature is that the number of homeworkers in North America is substantial and increasing. Two approaches were taken to investigate land use planning and regulation in relation to home-based work. The literature review synthesizes American and British sources almost exclusively since Canadian planning literature on the subject is limited. It shows that some jurisdictions have moved beyond recognition of home-based work to encourage it, often as part of an effort to reduce automobile use. In addition, home businesses expand employment opportunities and are considered a part of economic development strategies. In zoning terms, this has been manifested in moving from enumerating permitted and prohibited types of home-based work to outlining performance standards imposed on all home occupations. Focussing on several municipalities in the Greater Vancouver area, the other important source of data comes from interviews with planning officials and reviews of current policies and home occupation provisions in local zoning bylaws. Among the selected municipalities, few interviewees have recognized the social and economic benefits of home-based work, and many refuse to question the long-held planning principle of spatially-separated land uses. Many land use planners seem unaware of changes in society which are affecting the relationship between the home and work place. General conclusions deal with the discrepancies among current economic, social, and technological realities, planners' rhetoric about planning practice, and land use regulations which affect home-based work. Specific policy recommendations outline how zoning bylaws regulating the homework sector need to be revised.