Building Boom: Study Reveals Effects of California's 2016 Accessory Dwelling Units Law

Permits have shot up after California passed a landmark law in 2016 to make it easier to permit and construct accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

1 minute read

December 25, 2017, 1:00 PM PST

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at UC Berkeley has released a new brief [pdf] that "discusses the benefits of ADUs for supply-restricted and cost-burdened regions, and examines data from California’s largest cities (and a handful of other jurisdictions) to measure how much interest in, and production of ADUs has increased in the past year."

"The results are telling: across the board cities are seeing significant increases in ADU applications, with many cities doubling, tripling, or even quadrupling their totals from 2016," according to a post announcing the new report. For instance, Los Angeles saw 90 ADU applications in 2015. In 2017, that total reached 1,980.

The policy brief includes recommendations for removing some of the remaining barriers to ADU permitting and construction in cities around the state.

Thursday, December 21, 2017 in Terner Center for Housing Innovation

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