Californians are sidestepping the state’s acute housing shortage and soaring property prices by building cottages in their backyards, but not everyone is happy about it. Advocates say the cottages — called accessory dwelling units (ADUs) — are the quickest and easiest way to get people into livable homes, but some experts warn that they can drive down the price of single-family homes. That’s because potential buyers may not want to live near the tenant of the backyard unit. Others complain that the tiny homes aren’t a comparable substitute for building more traditional homes to combat housing shortages. Despite this, many people are continuing to build ADUs, often to house elderly relatives who need assistance and have no use for a big home anymore. Over 31,000 homeowners applied for ADU permits in 2023, up from 7,000 in 2018. The momentum may only get stronger thanks to two new bills signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last year that allow property owners to sell ADUs separately from their primary home and bans local governments from forcing owners to live in their backyard cottages.
