The Benefits of California's Accessory Dwelling Unit Laws

When California introduced SB-9 to encourage more residents to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), some people expressed concern about the effect it will have on the character of neighborhoods in the state. Here's why we think it's an opportunity to better express the diversity that makes California so special.

California. The name evokes images of Hollywood, gold rushes and Golden Gates, bright lights and Chinese Grumman’s theaters, vineyards, and orange groves. The land of milk and honey overflowing with opportunity. It’s long been romanticized in the collective conscious and remains, in our minds, a symbol of growth without limits. 

The truth is that, though California remains ripe with potential, it’s getting more and more crowded every day. Once the land of seemingly limitless expanses, Californians are now coming face to face with limits on expansion, on growth, and, of course, on the availability of housing. As of 2018, the state ranked 49th in terms of housing units per resident, which adds up to a shortfall of 3 to 4 million homes.   

With supply relatively stable and demand skyrocketing, simple economics dictate that prices should rise. To protect Californian residents, and in an effort to keep housing affordable, the state is loosening zoning restrictions and encouraging the development of ADUs, as a way to make up for the housing shortfall.

SB-9 and ADUs will change the Californian landscape (and that's ok!)

The bill changing zoning restrictions as of 2020 is known as 'SB-9' and gives homeowners the ability to subdivide lots zoned for single-family houses. Many Californian homeowners are now eligible to build additional duplexes on their property, and ADUs are smaller structures (think cottages and discreet extensions to pre-existing houses) that homeowners can convert into rentable spaces.

Some in the community are concerned about the effects these laws might have on the classic Californian landscape. But look at photos of places like Brentwood in the early 1900s; the neighborhoods are unrecognizable. Change is inevitable.

In fact, part of what’s made California so special for so many years is the diversity of its landscape — from the fertile forests of the north to the arid deserts of the south — and, maybe even more essentially, the diversity of its population. Long the destination of immigrant populations from South America and Asia, the state also welcomes dreamers of all kinds from across the continent. To quote the great American author Cormac McCarthy, “The best way to live in California is to be from somewhere else.”

That’s the thing about California — it has an inexhaustible ability to reinvent itself, to contain such multitudes. Which is why we think the recent changes to the housing laws will ultimately prove beneficial to the character of the state. Unless we address the escalation in housing prices, we will see an exodus of young people – our future!  Surveys show that more than half of the population wants to leave the state.

So while we completely understand the objections to recent zoning shifts, on balance we think this kind of change — and this kind of expansively diverse uniqueness is helpful. After all, what would San Francisco be without its Chinatown? Or Los Angeles, without its Korean population? What would the state be like if it didn’t embrace the influx of Latinx cultures in the early part of the twentieth century? The more change the state welcomes, the more Californian it will ultimately be. 

Should you add an ADU to your Californian Home?

There's no straightforward right-or-wrong answer to this question, but if you can obtain the permits to add an ADU, there are plenty of incentives. In California, you may even be eligible for a grant to contribute to the cost of creating a new dwelling on your main residence. There's also the financial benefit of becoming a landlord and generating passive income from your main property. Of course, with tenants in such close proximity to your home, you don't want to leave finding the right people to chance. Find out more about to find long-term, trustworthy tenants and if your ADU would be eligible for Belong here.