HOUSINGNEWS REPORT
THE PROMISE AND PITFALLS OF ACCESSORY DWELLING UNITS AS AN AFFORDABLE HOUSING PANACEA
Going a step further, Los Angeles County last year launched a pilot program to incentivize homeowners to build ADUs to house the homeless. The program, approved by the LA County board of Supervisors in August 2016, allows qualifying homeowners to receive up to $75,000 to construct an ADU — as long as they agree to rent to formerly homeless individuals, according to Curbed Los Angeles. ADU Pitfalls in Portland But the promise of ADUs as a solution to homelessness or even affordable housing has fallen flat further up the coast in Portland, according to local real estate investor and developer Justin Grubb. “Portland is one of those cohesive love- thy-neighbor, liberal type of towns. Let the homeless guy live in your backyard. But there was a certain naivete to
letting someone live on your property,” said Grubb, managing partner with Bulldog Capital, a real estate investment firm based in Portland. According to Grubb, Portland made a big push for more ADUs about three to five years ago, promoting them as a way to create more affordable housing in the city. “They discounted the cost for permitting the ADU. … They really were encouraging them,” he said, noting that
his firm initially jumped on the ADU bandwagon. “We were doing them, we were putting ADUs in the basement; we weren’t ever doing stand-alones.”
But then some realities hit for homeowners and real estate developers — particularly in
predominantly single family residential areas attractive to families, according to Grubb, who said that because single family homes in Portland tend to fall on the smaller side, it severely limits the
“Portland is one of those cohesive love-thy-neighbor, liberal type of towns. Let the homeless guy live in your backyard. But there was a certain naivete to letting someone live on your property.”
JUSTIN GRUBB MANAGING PARTNER, BULLDOG CAPITAL PORTLAND, OREGON
METROS WITH MOST 2017 ADU BUILDING PERMITS
1,540
1,475
1,027
1,007
845
534
352
321
308
291
PORTLAND, OR
LOS ANGELES, CA
WASHING- TON, DC
SAN FRANCIS- CO, CA
SEATTLE, WA
PHILADEL- PHIA, PA
SANTA BARBARA, CA
BOULDER, CO
NEW YORK, NY
AUSTIN, TX
SOURCE: BUILDFAX
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MARCH 2018 | ATTOM DATA SOLUTIONS
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