The Granny Flat Grows Up

"Like many desirable places to live, Santa Cruz, California, suffers from a lack of affordable housing. But in recent years the city, located 70 miles south of San Francisco, has initiated an impressive program to combat the problem by promoting Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), or "granny flats," on single-family lots. For years the state of California has been pushing its municipalities to loosen restrictions on ADUs, seeing them as a low-cost way to accommodate surging population growth without increasing sprawl. But the Santa Cruz program--which recently won an AIA award for urban planning--goes several steps further in its embrace of the humble garage conversion."