It is no secret that the nation is facing a severe housing shortage, and after the recent fires, California is facing an even more critical landscape. Some estimates put the shortage at nearly four million housing units across the country. The shortage has multiple causes (see inset below) but is being positively impacted in Los Angeles by ADU construction. We’re taking a look here at alternative ADU options that home and landowners could consider.
Most people have come to understand that the housing shortage has been caused by regressive zoning (zoning that restricts large swathes of land to single-family residence development), past land use decisions, and difficult permitting processes. For more background on the subject, see our prior blog posts: Why is Housing in Los Angeles So Expensive? and The Great LA Delay: Why Residential Development is Taking Soooo Long).
How We Get to Housing Abundance
Here in California, the state legislature has taken a number of aggressive actions to stimulate the housing production. California’s Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinances have resulted in over 11,500 new housing units in single family zones in Los Angeles from 2017 to 2019. In addition to successfully implementing the state ordinances, Los Angeles has applied local codes to offer a parallel set of opportunities. Angelenos now have a choice when it comes to the design and construction of an ADU: one can follow either the State Ordinance or the LA Municipal Code. Each option presents different opportunities — builders are able to select the ordinance that works best for the project. The differences between these codes have been clearly identified in a memo put out by the LA Department of Planning, and we strongly recommend downloading a copy as a reference tool.
The Beauty of Light Touch Density
As you may know from reading a past blog, we are fans of the concept of light touch density: incremental, infill housing developments that slowly intensify single-family zoned lots with duplexes, triplexes and ADUs. Like many architects in California, we have received numerous requests for the design of ADUs, and the range of requests, and solutions, can be surprising. We want to share with you some of these interesting projects in hopes of stimulating your appetite for more ADU construction, and to open your mind about the varied possibilities inherent in these ordinances.
#1 An ADU that’s ready to travel (if needed) – the Mobile Tiny Home solution
We are working on a residential remodel for a single mother with some important project parameters:
- The budget is tight,
- She has great design sense, and will not accept a poorly designed environment, and
- The timeline is very fast!
Our client’s newly purchased house is basically uninhabitable and will require an extensive remodel and upgrades to every system to meet her standards. To create a livable situation for her and her small son in the quickest way possible, she purchased a mobile tiny home (MTH) to place in the backyard. This will be her initial home during construction of the main house and will transition into a rental unit after the remodel, thereby providing much needed future income.
Pre-fab units avoid long construction times, AND, importantly for this project, mobile tiny homes also short circuit the building permit process. I know that last item caught your attention, right?! In the City of Los Angeles, an MTH requires only a “Use of Land” permit that is combined with an electrical and plumbing permit. With a minimal drawing set showing the proposed location of the MTH, its associated concrete pad and a parking space (if required), the city promises a ministerial review and quick permitting. Costs should average $150 plus plumbing and electrical permit fees.
Lesson Learned:
Even if you can’t drive an MTH past the main house, you can still get one into place. Our client hired a crane to lift the MTH over the existing house and place it gently in the rear yard!
Our client is currently happily ensconced in her elegant, and very tiny, new home while we pursue engineering, permitting and construction of her main house remodel.
#2 What if you don’t need an ADU now, but you might in the future?
A few years ago, we were approached by clients who wanted to convert their single car garage into an ADU that would sit next to a new pool in the backyard. Although they are an empty-nest couple who envisioned a party/pool cabana more than a second housing unit, they recognized that a guest house/rental unit could come in very handy in the future when additional income, or caregiver housing would be welcome. Different from the client described above, their project parameters specified that:
- The roof should be oriented to allow the maximum solar array that would power both house and ADU
- The ADU should open to the pool for parties
- A small bedroom should be private and separate from the party area
- The bathroom should serve both house and pool
We looked to the mid-century modernist movement for inspiration, embracing the solar mandate as an opportunity for a long gable roof that runs at an angle to the structure below. By orienting the ridge on the north-south axis, the two sides of the gable balance solar exposure throughout the day. The ridge orientation also allowed the interior spaces to focus on, and to celebrate, the view of the new pool beyond. The open living space maximizes indoor-outdoor party opportunities with large glass doors, and the ability to have flexible furniture/seating layouts. However, the ADU is also designed to function as a comfortable one-bedroom apartment with a conventional living room and kitchen layout for a future tenant.
Lesson Learned:
Large expanses of glass, and the opportunity to “borrow views” through the glass, helps to expand the sense of space, even in a small ADU.
#3 If one ADU is good, wouldn’t two be better?
Most ADUs are added to lots with existing single-family homes. It may have escaped your notice that one can add multiple, detached, ADUs to a lot with an existing multi-family residential building using the State of California ADU ordinance! This can dramatically expand the number of units on a lot, with all the benefits of the ADU ordinance (4’ setbacks, reduced parking requirements, etc.). Also, a recent change to the law allows these ADUs to have a height limit of 18’ for a flat roof, and 20’ if the roof follows the pitch of the existing building’s roof (if you are within a half mile of transit and the existing building on the site already has two stories). Most surprisingly, there is no size (square footage?) limit on these ADUs!
We are currently working on two of these projects: one on a relatively flat lot in Westwood with an existing triplex, and one on a very steep lot in Silverlake with an existing duplex. The Westwood project came with a nice bonus: ADUs are exempt from Specific Plan requirements, and in this case, that means no Design Review. This can save time and money in the permitting process. Our project parameters for these ADUs are typical for a multi-family residential client for whom these properties represent an investment and source of income:
- Maximize floor area
- Provide at least one parking space per unit (even though none were required) to attract tenants
- Provide a minimum of two bedrooms (per unit? Or total?)
The State ADU ordinance offers considerable benefits to a multi-family residential project, primarily the opportunity for increased floor area (due to the smaller setbacks), reduced parking requirements (for a typical apartment, parking is based on the number of rooms in the unit), the elimination of any highway dedication requirements, and the streamlined permit and review process.
Lesson Learned:
18’ is tantalizingly short of a comfortable height for a 2-story structure (especially when you want to plan in some soffits for HVAC ductwork). We found it necessary to bury the structure about 1.5’ into grade to get reasonable ceiling heights.
#4 When the accessory structure is the main story.
The ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) is essentially a modern evolution of an older “granny flat” concept. The original intent behind granny flats was to provide a smaller, self-contained living space for family members, often for aging parents, relatives, or other dependents, so they could remain close to the family while maintaining a level of independence. The ADU ordinances in California, formalized around 2016 and continually adjusted since, allow for much more flexibility in terms of design and placement than what existed with previous zoning codes. These ordinances generally specify that an ADU must be on the same lot as an existing single-family home, and set parameters on its size, height, and other features. Importantly, the ADU is often seen as a secondary unit, clearly smaller in scale and function compared to the primary dwelling.
However, many lots across Los Angeles are developed with very modest single-family homes. In many of these cases, homeowners could find themselves in a situation where they are allowed to build a unit that’s larger than their primary residence, which leads to interesting design, planning, and aesthetic considerations. This happened to us, when a neighbor, a young family with two small children, living compactly in an existing 700 sf house, came to us for help. Their project parameters:
- Three bedrooms and two bathrooms for the family of four
- Good flow between interior and exterior to expand living options
- Home office for the parents
We discussed several options, including expanding the existing house out, or up, and/or building a detached ADU in the rear yard. It quickly became apparent that the ADU option was the better choice. By following the city implementation ordinance, we could build a 2-story ADU with a maximum of 1200 sf. No parking would be required, because we would demolish the garage to build the new ADU (although, in this case, our clients opted to include a garage AND a carport as part of the new construction). The clients are very excited to live in a brand-new house, custom-designed for their family. They are also examining options for their existing house, like carving off a bedroom as a Junior Accessory Dwelling Unit (JADU) to be used as a guest room for family, while renting the main portion of the house for extra income.
Lesson Learned:
One benefit of leaving the existing house untouched, and concentrating on a new building in the backyard is that the family can continue to live in the house during construction, saving on rental costs that might otherwise accrue if they had to relocate during the remodel.
#5 Is this a real path to abundance?
California has made great strides in creating ordinances to increase housing. We are excited about creative options that utilize these ordinances to expand California housing. A Mobile Tiny Home, ADUs that are larger than the original dwelling, exploring how an ADU may offer future benefits, building multiple ADUs on multi-family property, or even a JADU, are resourceful ways to avoid housing scarcity and welcome housing abundance.
If you are interested in learning more about ADU options for your lot, give us a call. We’d be happy to review the feasibility of adding one (or more) ADUs to your existing house, a proposed house, a new multi-family residential project, or an existing apartment building.
(NOTE: This is an area of great interest here in California, and our legislature has been working hard over the past few years to increase housing opportunities by passing new laws to incentivize the production of ADUs. To keep up with these laws, the State ADU handbook is available online: https://www.hcd.ca.gov/building-standards/adu/handbook)
(Facts about ADU in California
