The View from the ADU Point Person

If there is a point person for the ADU movement, it would have to be Kol Peterson. Peterson has been teaching and consulting prospective ADU owners, developers and realtors in Portland, Oregon—ADUs’ Ground Zero—for the past several years. He recently authored a comprehensive book on the subject, Backdoor Revolution: the Definitive Guide to ADU Development, and is now spearheading the first Accessory Dwelling Academy for some 300 interested participants this coming June (AccessoryDwellings.org).

I wanted to get a snapshot of where he thinks the movement is heading as of early 2019. In an interview this March he gave me his observations on:

Most active areas in the country: “There is really a lot going on in cities like Denver, Austin and Atlanta. But the real hotbed of development continues to be Oregon, Washington and California; this is where coding changes and regulatory encouragement have made greatest strides. In California alone, ADU permits rose from about 80 in 2016, to 2000 in 2017 to 5000 last year, much of this being driven, of course, by California’s high housing prices.

“Another interesting development is Minneapolis abolishing single-family zoning in the city. We have a similar movement now in Oregon, where people are pushing for a statewide removal of single-family codes, which date back to the 1940s and ‘50s.”

First-time home buyers: “They are becoming increasingly savvy about the ADU potential of the properties they’re buying. They’re asking about the possibilities of garages and basements being developed for ADU conversions. Realtors tell me this is often the first question they ask. Along with this lenders, at least in the northwest, are showing strong signs of waking up to this market.”

The senior housing market: “This is potentially very strong. AARP has become seriously involved; its Public Policy Institute is publishing new literature directly addressing ADU coding and regulation, which it has called the principal obstacle to ADU development. They are building on model legislation that was developed with the American Planning Association back in 2000. I would say that senior housing so far is about 20% of the ADU market.”

For more information, go to AccessoryDwellings.org.