The City of Alameda, Alameda Tiny Homes and The California State Legislature agree that the production of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) is an important strategy in the effort to reduce the overall cost of housing in California.
According to UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project, “Recent state efforts to incentivize the construction of ADUs have resulted in more communities and families building ADUs as a cost-efficient way to address the affordable housing crisis. By further reducing barriers to ADU approval and construction, this legislation will help add tens of thousands of new units to California’s housing stock.”
History
On September 27, 2016, Governor Brown signed three bills into law (AB 2299, SB 1069, and AB 2406), which modify State regulations related to accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in Government Code Section 65852.2.
These new regulations made ADUs legal in all California cities. But in some municipalities, strict local regulations such as parking space and minimum lot size requirements coupled with high permit fees and have hampered ADU development efforts.
Upcoming Changes
This year, new legislation has been passed that streamlines the ADU application process, limits fees, and in general makes the permit process easier for ADUs.
Tell Gov. Gavin Newsom that you support these bills to streamline the ADU process.
Specifically, Senate Bill 13 by Senator Wieckowski, which is currently awaiting signature by Gov. Newsom addresses the issue of high permit fees and other barriers to ADU development, while Assembly Bill 881 removes owner-occupancy requirements. Assembly Bill 68 even allows for two ADUs on the same property.
According to Assembly Member Bloom, author of AB 881, “Although the ADU permitting process has been significantly streamlined as a result (of previous legislation), there continue to be ambiguities in the ADU statute that can slow or block the construction of these units. This has resulted in many ADU permits being significantly delayed or blocked. There are a number of specific deficiencies in existing law that this bill seeks to remedy.”
The California Association of Realtors notes that the bill “will help alleviate our housing shortage while capitalizing on limited land resources.”