UPDATED – The Potential Impact of Accessory Dwelling Units on
Housing Affordability
They’re called “alley flats”, “granny flats”, “secondary dwelling units” or “accessory dwelling units” (ADUs), and Austin is seeing an increase in the number of these small, self-contained homes that share a residential lot with primary residences. The big question is, are ADUs an answer to Austin’s need for more affordable housing?
On Tuesday, April 14th, the City hosted a panel discussion where housing experts discussed the possible pros and cons of ADUs and what steps Austin should take to encourage or restrict their construction.
One panelist, Mark Rogers of Guadalupe Neighborhood Development Corporation, a HousingWorks board member, has built about a dozen ADUs in Austin with more on the way. Rogers says GNDC is able to charge affordable rental prices for those homes because it receives funding from government programs and foundations to build them. He says homeowners who build ADUs would need to charge a minimum of $1,047 per month to recover their expenses, so while those ADU’s would add density to the city’s urban core they would not be affordable for most low-to-moderate income families.
Another panelist, Jake Wegmann of the UT School of Architecture, brought examples of how cities in California were facilitating the construction of ADUs. He said Santa Cruz officials raised money from philanthropic sources to help homeowners finance the secondary homes. Wegmann also encouraged Austin to help homeowners design ADUs, and to resist placing restrictions on their construction such as additional parking spaces. Wegmann and Rogers urged the City to make the permitting process more efficient, fair and predictable.
Currently, Austin allows ADUs on Single-Family-3 lots that are at least 7,000 square feet. Also on Single-Family-2 and Single-Family-3 zones properties that are at least 5,750 square feet in neighborhood planning areas that adopted the secondary apartment infill option.
Panelist Mary Ingle, President of the Austin Neighborhoods Council, lives in a neighborhood that opted to allow ADUs on the smaller lots. She believes ADUs shouldn’t negatively impact the feel of neighborhoods if they’re designed well and placed well. She says they are most appropriate for older and alley-structured neighborhoods.
According to the City, there are ADUs all over Austin, both permitted and unpermitted. From 2007-2014 about 275 ADUs were permitted and built.
Panelist Marya Crigler of the Travis Central Appraisal District warned homeowners that building ADUs on their property would increase their property taxes and those improvements would not be eligible for any homestead exemptions if they were being leased out.
The Austin City Council has called for an ordinance to make it easier to build ADUs. However, the Planning Commission has sent the issue back to its Codes and Ordinances Subcommittee a second time for more review. Click here to view the entire discussion. For more details on what the Council is considering, visit the City’s ADU page.