Search Results
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A Portland ADU Program Pairs Lower-Wealth Homeowners and Low-Income Tenants
Courtney Freeman met me this month at her front door, on which she’s hung a little wreath tied with a red ribbon. Then she led me past photos of her niece and nephew and into her little living room, where she offered me a bottle of water and started talking about sharing. “I really worked my butt off and worked my way to being a homeowner,” said Freeman, a hospital...Read more » -
Will California’s new ADU laws create a backyard building boom?
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Washington’s Progressive ADU Bill Died This Week
The most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bill ever introduced in a state legislature died this week. As originally proposed, Washington’s ADU bill—HB 1797 and SB 5812—removed all of the big policy barriers that make it hard for homeowners to add a backyard cottage, mother-in-law suite, or basement apartment to their property. The bill would have replicated and even improved on laws recently passed in California and Oregon that opened...Read more » -
LA ADU Story: How a State Law Sent Granny Flats off the Charts
How much can onerous city rules hold people back from adding in-law apartments to their homes? Based on what happened in California, a lot. At the start of 2017, a California state law went into effect that forced cities to relax their regulations on basement suites, garage apartments, and backyard cottages—known collectively as accessory dwelling units (ADUs). Two years later, building permits for ADUs in Los Angeles have surged by...Read more » -
Washington Just Advanced the Nation’s Best ADU Reform. Here’s Why It’ll Help.
Backyard cottages and in-law apartments breathe new life into existing homes. It’s a new life that lets multi-generational families live together, seniors age in place, and owners on fixed incomes stay in their homes. Tucked into or alongside existing houses, these small homes—collectively termed accessory dwelling units (ADUs)—can meet evolving household needs and help families of all kinds find greater housing security. And by converting empty yards, basements, and attics...Read more » -
Impact Fees Are ADU Busters
If you’re lucky enough to be a Cascadian homeowner, you’ve probably toyed with the idea of installing a mother-in-law apartment or backyard cottage at your place. If you’ve gone as far as to explore what would be required, you may have slammed straight into an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) buster: your city’s fees. In Washington, for example, depending on what city you live in, so-called impact fees alone might total...Read more » -
Washington’s ADU bills can create modest, affordable home choices
Washington state legislators in the House and Senate are sponsoring a bill (HB 1797 / SB 5812), giving homeowners more freedom and flexibility across the state to add Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs)—backyard cottages, granny flats, basement apartments, and mother-in-law suites. In cities of 2,500 people or more, and within urban growth areas, the bill would permit: Two ADUs wherever there is a single, detached house, duplex, triplex, or townhome; Eliminate off-street parking, owner-occupancy,...Read more » -
ADU Parking Quotas Are Climate Killers
On a planet facing a climate crisis, in a country where cars are the single largest source of climate pollution, mandating more parking spaces is foolish, at best, and may constitute climate malpractice. For accessory dwelling units (ADUs)—backyard cottages, basement apartments, and mother-in-law suites—parking quotas make even less sense. As more jurisdictions throughout Cascadia and beyond consider liberalizing rules to make it easier for homeowners to build ADUs, they will...Read more » -
Can Washington Pass the Country’s Most Ambitious Statewide ADU Reform?
This morning, Washington House Representatives Mia Gregerson (D-SeaTac) and Andrew Barkis (R-Olympia) introduced the most progressive accessory dwelling unit (ADU) bill legislators from any state have ever had the opportunity to vote on. For Washington cities of 2,500 people or more, and within urban growth areas, the bill would: Permit two ADUs per lot wherever there is a single-family home, duplex, triplex, or townhome Eliminate off-street parking, owner-occupancy, and minimum...Read more » -
Transportation Technology Can Deliver Us from Viaduct-Closure Gridlock