Learn more about ADUs and meet the homeowners, builders, and designers who built them. 10+ open houses across Los Angeles Westside and Mid-City
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This is a comprehensive resource for the East Bay ADU Tour. You can find addresses, learn a bit about the units, and plan your route.
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State legislators and the governor just came to a budget deal that includes $50 million in ADU incentives through CalHFA.
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Learn more about ADUs and meet the homeowners, builders, and designers who built them. 10+ open houses across Oakland, Berkeley & East Bay
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A recap of the October 12th panel for the Sacramento Association of Realtors featuring panelists from the county of Sacramento, the city of Sacramento, CalHFA, and Symbium
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There’s a new lending product from one of the pre-approved lenders that will allow homeowners to get the $40,000 ADU grant, without ruining their current mortgage.
This article will tell you exactly how to inquire, and explain some details to make sure this is a good product for you to look at.
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“California Comeback Plan funds new $100 million grant program for low- to moderate-income homeowners to build accessory dwelling units”
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ADUs are only one side of the housing shortage that we face in the United States.
This is a series where we’ll share some of the stories from our volunteer housing advocacy, which goes way beyond ADUs and delves into the world of political corruption, bureaucracy gone wrong, and much much more.
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California’s newest housing bill makes it easier for homeowners to build more housing and, under certain conditions, split their lots into two lots.
If you can combine both parts of the law, you can split a lot into 2 lots and build 2 units on each - for a total of 4 units.
And if the city is very friendly, you might be able to do more…
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Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are incredibly versatile tools so this is a long list of the most popular uses we see for ADUs in California.
This list covers nine specific ways people use their ADUs, based on hundreds of conversations I’ve had with homeowners. The list ranges from the very obvious (example: housing your mother-in-law in the in-law suite) to more surprising uses (example: downsizing to an ADU so you can rent out the main house and travel the world during your retirement).
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[Update 9/27/2021: Oakland staff has revised this plan and the city council will soon consider this new zoning update which increases the S9 Zone to include more at risk streets, and limits ADU construction to the conversion of existing structures]
Oakland may prohibit all ADUs for thousands of homeowners
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“Tthe launch of the first and only 0% interest loan for accessory dwelling units (ADU) on the market. The San Jose Scaling Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) pilot program will provide 20-30 qualifying applicants a 0% interest loan for six months to finance 100% of the costs associated with permitting and building an ADU.“
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The video has a lot of detail about the proposed law and what it means for ADUs around California.
If you want the easiest way to protect ADUs around California here it is:
Copy the text of this letter http://bit.ly/SB-765
Paste it into an email and change the name at the bottom to your own name
Many cities and counties in California offer free ADU floor plans
People always ask me if they can get free ADU plans, and these cities essentially offer free ADU floor plans.
That said, there is a lot you need in addition to a floor plan.
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There isn’t one easy place to look up impact fees (either what they are, or how much they’ll be for your Accessory Dwelling Unit). And it’s one of the parts of the new ADU rules where I’ve seen the most confusing guidance from the state, so it’s natural that you’ve got questions.
This article tries to tackle the big subject of ADU Impact Fees in California.
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You want to know how big an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) can be in California, and this article is going to answer that question, no matter what part of California you’re in.
Each jurisdiction can have its own rules about the minimum and maximum ADU size limits, but here’s the basic breakdown!
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ADU Marin is a new partnership between 10 local cities and towns and the county of Marin.
They’re launching a lot of free ADU resources to guide homeowners through the process of planning and building an Accessory Dwelling Unit.
As I understand, this was paid for with SB 2 grants from the state of California which explains why it’s free for you!
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California has some complicated energy requirements, so a lot of homeowners ask us what their solar requirements are when they are planning and budgeting a potential Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU).
According to Title 24, newly built, non-manufactured, detached ADUs will generally need to install solar panels if the local agency is enforcing the prescriptive energy requirements in California’s state code.
On the other hand, manufactured units, garage conversions, and attached ADUs generally won’t be required to install solar panels.
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Read the new guidance about the state-wide ADU laws in California.
The HCD released a handbook in September 2020 that clarifies how ADU regulations interact at a local and state level, and how different parts of the Accessory Dwelling Unit laws are supposed to be interpreted at the city and county level.
Read this article or watch the accompanying youtube video with my key takeaways about California’s ADU Laws
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