San Diego County ADUs Account for Over 30% of New Housing Permits

As other types of new housing projects struggled to get off the ground in San Diego County, accessory dwelling units made up 30 to 45 percent of new housing permits in unincorporated parts of the county between 2021 and 2024, reports Lisa Halverstadt in Governing.

“=Ahead of an April Board of Supervisors meeting where officials reviewed the county’s progress on state housing goals, county staff noted in a report that 45 percent of permitted housing units in 2024 were ADUs. They added that granny flats made up 84 percent of the homes they considered affordable to middle-class San Diegans that year and more than half of those considered attainable for lower-income residents.

The popularity of ADUs is attributed in part to policies that stymy other, larger housing projects, as well as a local program that waived ADU fees, which ran out of money in early 2024. Some county leaders question the effectiveness of ADUs as a solution to the housing shortage, pointing to the difficulty of assessing their affordability. But residents who are building ADUs for family or as rentals argue they will be a key source of housing and income.