ADUs to the Rescue?

By Anne Wyatt

Ahead of his one-year anniversary as governor, Gavin Newsom signed 18 new bills in November aimed at alleviating California's housing strains. Notably, five of those bills, which just went into effect last month, represent landmark efforts to create incentives for accessory dwelling units and reduce barriers to their construction in single-family neighborhoods.

"California is one of the first states to adopt statewide ADU-friendly policies," says Danielle Arigoni, director of AARP Livable Communities — and it could "help solve some of the housing challenges many Americans face today."

Among a list of innovative new policies, the legislation eliminates owner occupancy requirements, impact fees on certain ADUs, replacement parking requirements, and minimum and maximum sizes. The permit review period and required setbacks were also reduced, and a requirement for state and local jurisdictions to provide grants and incentives to facilitate enhanced ADU development by the end of 2020 was created.

The bills also allow ADUs to be sold separately from a primary residence in certain cases, and for an ADU and a "junior ADU," an attached but separate living area in an existing home, to share the same lot.

California's new ADU legislation now gives garages a second life as granny flats. Photo by Brandon Arant/Modative.

It's all part of a broader effort to increase the diversity of California's housing stock, said Gov. Newsom in a November press release. The legislation creates "powerful new tools to incentivize housing production," he said. "Now, we are removing some key local barriers."

The bills build on three years' worth of unprecedented policies meant to promote ADU construction. Past legislation limited off-street parking requirements; eliminated separate utility meter requirements; prevented homeowner associations from banning ADUs in covenants, conditions, and restrictions; and permitted junior ADUs.

These changes contributed to an almost 50 percent increase of ADUs between 2017 and 2018, according to Avodu, an ADU construction firm. In 2018 alone, around 7,000 ADUs were permitted for construction in California.

"ADUs provide a quick start to the housing supply crisis," says Stephen J. Peck, AICP, president of Peck Planning & Development in Visalia, California. "[They create] the opportunity to double the density of our neighborhoods without substantially altering the physical setting and neighborhood character."

While the new laws will help with housing production, questions remain. It is unclear how the allowances will intersect with existing policies, like California's Coastal Act, which was enacted in 1976 to guide development along the state's coastline. The new legislation states that it is not meant to diminish the act's provisions, but it would also take away local powers for discretionary hearing reviews of ADUs.

As California jurisdictions update their housing elements to plan the next decade, planners and policy makers will need to be ready to capitalize on the new opportunities with updated ADU policies and action plans — and be ready to follow up with advocacy and technical support for outreach and incentives.

As housing advocates continue to encourage ADU-friendly policies in communities nationwide, "we hope California will provide an example of what can be done," says AARP's Arigoni.

Anne Wyatt is a freelance writer and planner, and a former planning commissioner in San Luis Obispo, California.