California Today: A Housing Fix That’s Close to Home
The New York Times
Mike McPhate CALIFORNIA
TODAY MAY 16, 2017
A
264-square-foot accessory dwelling unit in Livermore that was designed by Avava
Systems, a Bay Area startup.
Credit Sasha Moravec
One fix to California’s housing
crisis could be in our own backyards.
A growing movement of urban planners
is pushing policies that would spur homeowners in hot housing markets like San
Francisco and Los Angeles to create “granny flats” on their properties.
Known officially as accessory
dwelling units, they typically take the form of garage studios or backyard
cottages that can be used by an elderly relative or a college-age renter.
Until now, California cities have
not taken to the units with the same gusto as other places on the West Coast such as Portland and Seattle. That’s in large part
because the cost and red tape involved in building them has been prohibitive
for many homeowners.
But in January, legislation went into effect that
was intended to change that, by eliminating certain utility connection fees and
removing a requirement to add off-street parking for each new unit.
The idea was simple: Make it easier
to build the units, then watch the housing stock soar and the rents fall.
“I think we are at a place in
California where something needs to change,” said Michelle Frey, executive
director of the Urban
Land Institute San Francisco, a research group. “There’s no one
silver bullet solution. But this is a solution that can help with the problem.”
Those opposed to easing regulations
on the units have cited concerns about increased traffic and changes to
neighborhood character.
But as the housing crisis has
intensified, more city officials have been embracing the small units, said Paul
McDougall, a policy manager at California’s housing agency who has been
tracking the rollout of the new legislation.
Research suggests homeowners have an
appetite for them as well.
In a recent survey of Bay Area owners, roughly a
quarter said they were open to building a unit. That would create the
equivalent of 400,000 new units, according to the study’s authors.
Yet until now, only a trickle of
homeowners have taken the plunge, said Matt Regan, senior vice president of
policy at the Bay Area Council, the public policy group that produced the
survey.
“Once people get comfortable with
the concept, we really feel that we’ll start seeing these balloon across the
state,” Mr. Regan said.
Karen Chapple, a proponent of the units and a
professor of city planning at U.C. Berkeley, said the economic case was
enticing.
She cited her own example. She spent
about $100,000 to add a cottage in her backyard in Berkeley in 2011, and has
been renting it out for between $1,500 and $2,000 a month. It paid for itself
in under five years, she said.
Since then, it’s basically been free
money.
No comments:
Post a Comment