Unleashing ‘granny flats’ could help heal housing shortage

Accessory dwelling units, often called ADUs or granny flats, have been something of a social movement in recent years. Basically, an ADU is a smaller residential unit built on the site of a single-family-zoned home, with both homes being part of the same deed. So someone with a typical American home, if they have space on their property, may decide to built a little cottage in the side or backyard.

These are usually about half the size of the main home, maybe one or two bedrooms, along with a bathroom, kitchen, and living room. The use for these backyard cottages are varied. They get the nickname “granny flats” because many use them as a convenient “close-but-not-too-close” option for caring for an aging loved one. Others rent them out for some side money or let a friend or adult child live there for a time.

Depending on one’s neighborhood, they may be completely welcome or, if one has a strict HOA enforcing a uniform look, banned outright. They have a lot of potential though to help solve a number of problems in modern American life.

More housing

The first contribution they could make is increasing stock in areas where people want to live. Many urban parts of North Carolina — including the main cities in the Triangle area — have have already loosened restrictions quite a bit on ADUs with this in mind.

In some urban neighborhoods, there is plenty of space for small one- or two-bedroom cottages behind or next to a main dwelling, but zoning has prevented homeowners from capitalizing on this. If restrictions are relaxed, an ADU could be used to add needed rental stock, or it could also allow an aging parent to downsize and put their home on the market for another family to enjoy.

Having more available stock will bring down costs for both those looking to rent and to buy. At the moment, they’ve simply been priced out of the market.

More density

As the North Carolina population surges, it’s been a struggle for many municipalities to keep up in terms of their utilities, especially sewer and water. There have been appropriations in recent budgets to assist, but city planners will tell anyone that listens that it’s much more efficient and affordable to add capacity where infrastructure already exists rather than extending pipes further and further out into what was surrounding farmland.

ADUs are a classic “in-fill” project, meaning they add housing in already inhabited areas. This additional housing capacity could relieve future strain on municipal budgets, since they won’t have to continue extending sewer pipes.

An opportunity for innovation

The cost of building houses is growing due to inflation, in-migration, trade wars, and labor shortages. But Americans have always been able to innovate out of crises. And there are a lot of new companies developing processes to build homes that sidestep these problems.

Some, like this North Carolina company, use robots to frame the walls; some use factories to mass produce “tiny homes” that would be perfect as ADUs; and new companies are popping up every day. Those who can’t finance a big traditional building project could easily order a prefabricated home after shopping around online like one would do for any other product. As companies compete, these systems will get better, quality will continue to improve, and prices will drop.

Mighty Small Homes, one such company, shows a finished project below, where they built a granny flat in Hendersonville, North Carolina, to be used exactly as the name suggests, as a place for “aging loved ones.”

Stronger civil society

The last strength, I believe, of the spread of “granny flats” would be a social one — increased connection among families and friends. Those who travel to other nations, even other fairly developed ones, almost immediately notice how housing is often much more family and community centered. In the Mediterranean, there are family villas that house multiple generations. In the English countryside, villages are interconnected far beyond our suburban developments of strangers.

Now, we Americans are an independent lot. Many prefer the little domestic islands that are so unique and characteristic of the American landscape. So interconnectedness shouldn’t be forced on anybody. But if we broaden the allowable use of ADUs, property owners could choose to enter these kinds of paradigms. They could choose to let a child, a friend, or a parent live in a cottage 20 yards away, benefiting all sides (less isolation, more help with chores or kids). These kinds of social bonds cannot be overestimated, as social scientists frequently sound the alarm about crises of loneliness and civil society.

A small inconspicuous addition

Neither HB 627 or its Senate companion bill SB 495 made the “crossover deadline” this week. The bills had bipartisan sponsorship, but they also had bipartisan opposition. In speaking with HB 627 primary sponsor Rep. Vernetta Alston’s office, staff noted the pushback focused on taking away local government power by requiring they allow expanded ADUs. There is certainly a principled point to be made there. But there’s also a principled point that says people should be able to use their property without excessive regulation.

Just like an ADU, the effort to allow their expansion may need to rely on a small, inconspicuous addition, maybe slipped into the budget if it has a fiscal element or added to a bill that did make crossover. Regardless, finding ways to encourage more ADUs would be a major boost to tackling housing affordability and accessibility in North Carolina.