We need to get serious about the housing crisis facing our communities here in the commonwealth. That means not only building more housing, but changing the way we think about it.
Of all of the proposals to help alleviate our housing shortage, allowing accessory dwelling units by right is one of the simplest steps we can take. Frankly, if we can’t do this one thing, we’re just not serious about tackling housing issues in Massachusetts.
Call them granny flats, in-law apartments or ADUs (accessory dwelling units), the concept is old, but one that requires a paradigm shift for many Massachusetts communities where decades of zoning restrictions have made creating this very discrete form of housing prohibitive.
They come in a variety of forms. It’s the basement or large attic that has been turned into an efficiency apartment. It’s a cottage in the backyard. It’s a “bump out” addition on a home. Many are even invisible. Remember “Happy Days?” The Fonz lived above the Cunningham’s garage. That’s an ADU.
The Healey-Driscoll Administration has included allowing ADU’s under 900 square feet by right as part of its power-packed Affordable Homes Act before the Legislature right now.
Opponents fear an end to single-family homes and the ruination of bucolic New England neighborhoods. These fears are entirely unfounded. Several other states have enacted similar measures. Apocalyptic predictions fizzled. That’s because unlike a multi-family apartment building, ADUs are largely out of sight. They have a low impact on infrastructure and are built by single-family homeowners, not real estate investors.
But while the ability to affect any neighborhood is insignificant, for families it can be profound. For an aging parent, an ADU can mean continuing to live in their home while a son or daughter and their family live in the main house. For a young couple starting a family, it is a little rental income to allow them to swing that first mortgage. And for a young adult with special needs, it offers a chance at independent living while having family support nearby.
Taylor Warren is a 27-year-old woman with multiple disabilities who now lives independently thanks to the ADU her family was able to build out in the basement of their home in Haverhill.
“We had this big basement,” her mother, Tina Maglio, recalled.
With a $50,000 home modification loan through Community Teamwork, Inc. and some of their own money, Taylor’s family was able to convert that basement into a beautiful 600-square-foot living space with her own bedroom, kitchenette and living room.
“It’s so cozy and she absolutely loves it,” Maglio said.
Driving by the house, you’d never know it was there. This is not multifamily housing as we know it.
In a crisis where every living space matters, allowing ADUs by right may seem like a drop in the bucket to our housing shortage. And when it comes to how many will be built in your community, it is. But across the state, those droplets add up to buckets of homes we need.
Restrictions such as limiting them to family members only ensures that few of these will ever be built. Imagine investing money into creating a separate living space in your home and being saddled with the burden of one day trying to sell it. Unless a potential buyer has a parent or adult child ready to move in, it’s useless to them.
In fact, most ADUs are built for family members. But being required to be a DNA match with your renter is absurd. Homeowners need flexibility.
Make no mistake about it: Making ADUs subject to additional restrictions outside of local building codes is an attempt to kill them. And with it, we’re killing one of the gentlest tools to help build our way out of this crisis.
We need to do a lot more work to stop the escalating housing costs which, left unabated, will assure our children’s futures entail moving out of Massachusetts. Allowing ADU’s by right adds value to single-family homes, has little impact on neighborhoods and doesn’t cost a dime of municipal or state tax dollars. Think about that last part – how often do you hear that?
Housing is a statewide issue that requires some statewide solutions. This is one of those solutions – and it’s an easy one.
Jesse Kanson-Benanav is the executive director at Abundant Housing Massachusetts.
- Advertisement -
