MAPA Examines Accessory Dwellings, Affordable Housing
A recent gathering organized by the Metropolitan Area Planning Agency reviewed experiences in other communities with using accessory dwelling units to increase affordable housing by boosting urban housing density.
MAPA’s Expanding Housing Choices forum, held Nov. 14 at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, explored housing affordability, transit-oriented housing, neighborhood development and middle housing, as well as other communities’ success by allowing accessory dwelling units.
Accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, are small homes or apartments on the same property as single-family residences. They go by a variety of other names: carriage house, granny flat, in-law suite, mother-in-law flat, backyard cottage or basement apartment, among many others. They can be attached or detached, and they can be built new or be created by retrofitting existing space.
They have been part of the U.S. housing landscape for centuries, said Eli Spevak, founder of Orange Splot LLC, a housing developer in Portland, Oregon. They often exist outside the legal framework, but communities are increasingly establishing rules that permit or encourage their expansion.
“The nice thing about accessory dwellings, and some of the other housing types I’ll talk about, is that even in neighborhoods where no one wants anything to change – they want it to still look like a single family neighborhood – you still can slip small homes into it discretely, and that’s one of the powers of an accessory dwelling unit program,” Spevak said.
Basement ADUs are the most discrete, because they aren’t visible from the street, Spevak said. Tiny homes have also grown in popularity, although the concept harkens back to the age of wagon trains – where the units can exist on their own or come together into their own community.
Spevak said the boarding house concept is also coming back into fashion, with organizations repurposing old large homes or commercial buildings into co-living space with a shared kitchen, although typically not with provided meals due to modern regulations placed on commercial kitchens.
ADUs can be put on almost any lot, and they can be used as short-term or long-term solutions for families with too much or too little housing available, and their use could change over time.
“They’re fantastic for multigenerational households,” Spevak said. “The equity to build an ADU might come from the older or the younger generation.”
For example, a family might choose to build an ADU for a college student. They could use the ADU for short-term rental on Airbnb or other platforms, and eventually make the ADU as their living space as empty nesters, which frees up a traditional single-family resident for the next generation of their family.
Choosing an ADU instead of a bigger house can have a significant environmental benefit, with 80% of a home’s carbon footprint coming from heating, lighting and hot water. They’re also cheaper, with about a fifth of ADUs rented to friends or family for nothing.
ADUs can also expand choice in the housing market, encouraging residents to choose the right fit for them – and freeing up other residences for those looking for affordable, available housing.
Additionally, “they’re a great niche for small contractors and architects,” Spevak said. “They’re politically palpable, so in terms of what can you do to create more walkable neighborhoods, this can actually get the votes.”
Spevak said the barriers to expanding ADUs include regulation, education and capital costs. There are starting to be financial products for ADUs, but it’s still in its infancy, as are public awareness and regulation in many places.
Requiring ADUs to obtain a conditional use permit, or operate in a quasilegal or illegal status, is also a barrier, along with assessing fees and parking requirements similar to main structures, as well as owner-occupancy rules.
Spevak cautioned that what works well in Portland may not work for Omaha, so leaders need to look at what might work here.
“Zoning is a real local issue,” Spevak said. “You have to come up with your own solutions.”
For more details on ADUs, go to accessorydwellings.org or download Spevak’s “The ABCs of ADUs” at bit.ly/2XI68R2.
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