Granny flats, mother-in-law units, accessory dwelling units (ADUs), or secondary units—whatever you call them, more and more cities, regions, and states are making it easier to deliver subtle density in the backyard.
Billy Ulmer writes of the broadening appeal of accessory dwelling units (ADUs):
Long seen as a novelty in real estate development, ADUs are experiencing a new wave of interest from organizations as diverse as Smart Growth America, Sightline Institute, and AARP.
Major cities like Austin, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles, Nashville, San Diego and Minneapolis have made recent legislative changes to make ADUs easier to build. The state of California followed suit with a new law that took effect in January of 2017.
After explaining this mother-in-law friendly form of infill housing, Ulmer goes into more detail about how and where ADUs are catching on as one potential solution to skyrocketing housing prices. There are also forthcoming events focusing on ADUs and their various forms. The "Reinventing the Home" event will be held on October 23, 2017 in Washington, D.C., and the "Build Small Live Large Summit" will take place in Portland, Oregon on November 3-5.
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