HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
LEAD ARTICLE
The Promise and Pitfalls of Accessory Dwelling Units as an Affordable Housing Panacea
BY DAREN BLOMQUIST, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
A paucity of affordable housing that threatens to inflame a burgeoning homelessness crisis and trigger an exodus of well-paying jobs is forcing local governments to consider creative solutions to this intractable problem.
units (ADUs) in the hopes that real estate developers and single-family homeowners can create more affordable housing inventory one granny flat at a time. A trio of California laws that took effect in January 2017 is one example of such an attempt to streamline ADU development. The laws (SB 1069,
AB 2299, and AB 2406), encourage cities to ease some of the common hurdles to the permitting and building of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — also known as granny flats, in-law units or just second units — most notably parking requirements, setback requirements, and utility connection fees.
One such solution is to streamline the development of accessory dwelling
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MARCH 2018 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS
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