Maine officials approved roughly 500 ADU permits last year.
Accessory dwelling units accounted for 9% of new housing permits in Maine in 2025, signaling the growing success of state and local policies that encourage ADUs, reports Hannah LaClaire in the Portland Press Herald.
According to LaClaire, "Of the approximately 5,500 building permits issued across 183 of the state’s largest municipalities, 500 were ADUs – small dwelling units that share a lot with an existing home."
LaClaire adds that "This is the first year the data is being collected (and the state has said it’s a bit of a trial run) so there’s no way to track how much overall housing production, or ADU construction more specifically, has changed in recent years."
A 2022 Maine state law legalized ADUs on all residential lots, but other cost and regulatory barriers prevented ADUs from taking off. Two new laws intended to streamline permitting and reduce costs go into effect in 2027.
FULL STORY: More ADUs were built in Maine last year than expected
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Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
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The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association