ADUs can help the housing crunch, says builder

Scott Bailey, a co-founder of Bequall, a California based building firm that specializes in constructing accessory dwelling units (ADUs), published an editorial in the Boston Globe recently. In the piece, he lists changes he wants made to an ADU bill put forward in the MA Legislature in 2023.He takes issue with five components of the bill as it stands. The minimum lot size is too large and he suggests using setbacks as the main zoning requirement to keep the character of the neighborhood. The bill only allows for ADUs for family members with disabilities and seniors, rather than having anyone be able to use them. He says the minimum build size of 450 SF is "arbitrary" and should be increased. The bill requires owner-occupancy in ADUs, and he disagrees with that requirement. Lastly, he'd like the parking space requirement lifted, as many ADUs could be built close to public transit.Wonks and officials have been saying "Massachusetts needs 200,000 new housing units in the next eight years" and this is, says Bailey, a good way to get there.

Granny Flats (ADUs) in California Becoming More Popular

The WashingtonPost recently ran a piece on how accessory dwelling units (ADUs), sometimes known as in-law apartments or "granny flats," are easier to build in California, thanks to zoning changes that have been put into place in the past few years.The article states that about 23,000 ADU permits were issued in California in 2023, up from 5,000 in 2017. However, as recent stories in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle show, although a lot of permits have been granted, far less building has actually happened and the construction that has been completed has happened in the wealthiest communities, with the average cost coming in at about $200,000 ($150/SF plus) and prices rising every day as materials costs continue to increase.Only 622 ADUs have been built in San Francisco since 2017 (0.2% of the city's total housing supply). In LA, more ADUs are being built, but again, they tend to be in the wealthiest areas, although there were $40,000 grants available for moderate-low income households to build an ADU; the funding was exhausted in a few months.Crosstown Conversions shows the number of ADUs by neighborhood below:And then the median income in those neighborhoods (below):The distribution of ADUs closely tracks the median income in the neighborhood.