3 Comments
Mar 11, 2021Liked by Jonah Richard

Really solid summary, Jonah. Thanks for the insights and inspiration. Having just moved out of a progressive town in California I can attest to the rising tide of ADU demand and the easing of restrictions to get them done. There was quite a bit of pressure on the municipalities from the CA government to put in ADUs, so there are political points to be scored for local administrators to support this type of development as well.

Expand full comment

Advice on convincing the authorities that ADUs can fit zoning?

Expand full comment
author

At the city or town level, I think it's about getting critical mass among homeowners and demonstrating the potential value to the planners. Find a group of homeowners willing to build an ADU on their properties and bring a proposal to the planners. Kind of like what this resident did in Seattle:

https://accessorydwellings.org/2019/12/29/evelyn-broms-adu-another-house-for-the-other-street/

For smaller towns (like my own), we are forming a housing subcommittee to look at ways to address the housing shortage. Part of this will likely include investigating ADUs and presenting this back to the town officials. This likely means identifying actual sites, working with homeowners, and flagging the existing zoning restrictions that make the projects prohibitive.

Expand full comment