Cities like Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, and now Seattle are pursuing equity-based agendas for ADUs.
Accessory dwelling units are often seen as a path to missing middle housing, allowing cities to add housing supply to low-density neighborhoods. And in Seattle, they've also been eyed as a tool to prevent the displacement of low-income homeowners. But the city's new Racial Equity Toolkit on Policies for Accessory Dwelling Units [pdf] suggests that ADUs would primarily benefit the higher-income, white homeowners building them.
"The RET found changes to ADU policy would result in race-based disparities, notably that wealthy white homeowners would benefit the most from the proposed policy changes," Natalie Bicknell writes in The Urbanist. "Simply put, White households are significantly more likely to own a single-family home and also have the financial resources needed to add an ADU to their property."
Seattle released the Racial Equity Toolkit alongside its Environmental Impact Statement on ADUs.
Read the full story: Study Reveals Wealthy White Homeowners Benefit Most from Backyard Cottages
Affordable ADU Builder Hopes Co-Op Model Can Catch On
A worker-owned developer in Evanston uses sustainable materials to build efficient, affordable ADUs to help homeowners create generational wealth.
Tiny Houses—Not a Big Enough Solution
We shouldn’t have to scale down the idea of basic economic security to fit inside the dimensions of a tiny house. But that’s precisely what we’re doing.
Portland Adjusts Residential Infill Plan to Minimize Displacement
Portland wants to add density but doesn't want to displace current residents of low- and middle-income neighborhoods.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority