Full article by Jeff Wilser available at Sacramento News & Review
They used to be called “granny flats.” Or sometimes “in-law units,” or “backyard cottages” or maybe “casitas.”
These are mini-homes that sit on the yard or driveway of a larger residence. They’re now officially called accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, and they’re popping up throughout California, seen by some as a way to address the state’s housing crisis.
“ADUs are booming. They’ve been skyrocketing since 2017,” says Annie Fryman, director of cities at Abodu, one of the ADU-focused construction companies sprouting up to meet demand. Fewer than 1,300 ADUs were permitted in California in 2016, according to BuildinganADU.com, and by 2019 that jumped to more than 14,000 — a tenfold increase.
This was by design. In 2017, to encourage the construction of more ADUs, the state of California made “sweeping changes” to loosen the permitting requirements, says Greta Soos, associate planner at the City of Sacramento. Then Sacramento did the same. “We took the state’s new laws and ran with that, and wanted to make it easier to build,” Soos says.