CityLab Daily: Can Granny Flats Fill California’s Housing Gap?
Also today: America’s obsession with wipes is tearing up sewer systems, and the resilience of Beirut’s central hall homes.
Backyard apartments by Abodu arrive by delivery to be assembled on site in San Jose.
Photographer: Adam Rouse/Courtesy of Abodu
Yes in my backyard: Since California passed laws in 2016 and 2017 to ease restrictions around the construction of accessory dwelling units, backyard homes have become big business. In 2019 alone, homeowners built roughly 12,000 of these tiny homes, more than double the number permitted just two years earlier. Experts predict the numbers for new ADU permits will keep rising, especially as companies market pre-fabricated units, which can be significantly cheaper than custom-built ones and assembled on site in as little as 30 days. Think of it as the “Amazon Prime for housing,” one investor told Kriston Capps.
The streamlined process stands in stark relief with building full-sized housing in the Bay Area, one of the most expensive and unpredictable places in the world to construct new homes. Further bolstered by local deregulation of ADUs, can a backyard revolution serve as a backdoor solution to California's housing shortage? Today on CityLab: How California Set Off a Backyard Apartment Boom