MDL 201 - Feasibility Studies and Pre-Development

Course Description

What is mddl U?

mddl U is Canada’s first professional education program dedicated exclusively to small-scale and missing middle housing development. The program is intended as a practical, skills-based training program for early to mid-career development professionals, emerging small scale developers, municipal planners, and community builders who want to understand how to move middle housing projects from concept to construction. 

How is the course structured? 

mddl U is an online, self-paced course. It is open for registration across Canada, and students currently enrolled in a post-secondary program anywhere in the country are eligible for a small discount by emailing hello@mddl.co.

The full course is a 100-hour professional education program with six courses. Participants have 6 weeks to complete each course. 

• Course 1 (pre-requisite for all following courses) serves as the foundational prerequisite and introduces the middle housing ecosystem, policy context, and development process.
• Courses 2–6 explore specialized topics such as feasibility, financing, approvals, and project delivery. 

Courses can be taken individually or completed together to earn the full certificate. Participants have up to four years to complete the full certificate. 

Who is the program designed for?

mddl U is designed to help build development expertise and capacity among those who are in the middle housing ecosystem. The intent of the program is to train individuals to help ease the delivery of middle housing - ranging from construction and financing of projects, to streamlining the regulatory and permitting processes. Participants do not need prior development experience.

Course Description 

This course focuses on the earliest and most consequential stages of middle housing development: determining whether a project should move forward at all. Learners are introduced to practical methods for identifying demand, evaluating sites, and assessing feasibility before significant capital or time is committed. Through hands-on analysis, the course explores how market conditions, zoning regulations, physical site constraints, and financing options intersect to shape development potential. Participants will learn how to research housing supply and pricing, navigate land acquisition and purchase agreements, conduct basic due diligence, and apply structured checklists to identify risks and red flags. The course also introduces digital tools, including GIS-based analysis, to support site selection and long-term fit. By the end of the course, learners will be equipped to make informed, early-stage decisions about middle housing projects—understanding not only where opportunities exist, but when constraints signal that a project should be reworked or walked away from altogether.

Course Details

Learning Outcomes:

• Analyse demand conditions for middle housing by researching local housing supply, rental pricing, and demographic patterns, and determine whether middle housing aligns with community needs. 
• Assess site suitability for middle housing by analysing frontage, access, slope, and context using checklists and digital tools such as GIS, and determine when alternate configurations or lot assemblies may be required.
• Conduct preliminary due diligence by performing legal, technical, and servicing checks, identifying high-risk site conditions, and using structured checklists to minimize uncertainty before purchase. 
• Evaluate financing pathways for small-scale development by identifying land, soft, and hard costs; comparing mortgage and lending options; recognizing CMHC and alternative supports; and matching financing tools to project risk profiles     
• Interpret zoning codes, neighbourhood plans, and regulatory overlays to determine what can be built on a site, identify opportunities or constraints, and begin evaluating longer-term rezoning potential. 
• Describe and interpret the full land acquisition process by outlining key steps, evaluating purchase-and-sale agreements, identifying transactional risks, and applying effective strategies for securing sites in competitive markets.