XPost: seattle.politics, alt.economics

from https://myedmondsnews.com/2024/03/group-launches-edmonds-adu-resource-hub-and-a-big-story-about-a-tiny-house/

Group launches Edmonds ADU resource hub –and a big story about a tiny house Posted: March 30, 2024

Janet and Fred outside Janet’s accessory dwelling unit in Esperance.
The Coalition for an Accessible and Resilient Edmonds (CARE) has
launched a resource hub to provide Edmonds community members with
information about accessory dwelling units (ADUs.) In addition, the hub includes a video story — Janet’s Tiny Home— produced by CARE.

According to a CARE news release announcing the resource hub:

Regional demand for housing has greatly exceeded regional supply growth
over the last two decades. In this time, housing costs across Edmonds
have grown at unprecedented rates. Housing unaffordability has put
pressure on many members of our community, across every stage of life.

– In the Edmonds School District service area (Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace), 52% of all renting households – including 70% of households led by those 65 years or older – pay more than 30% of their
income toward rent and qualify as “rent-burdened” by federal standards.

– In this same service area, the median household income required to
afford the purchase of a detached, or single-family, home ($207,812)
grew by nearly 75% from 2000 to 2023, while median household income grew
by just 15% over the same period. (Both figures are adjusted for
inflation; all numbers come from the Alliance for Housing Affordability.)

“ADUs are small, but mighty: affordable, flexible homes that will
provide more choice and opportunity for members of our community,” said Mackey Guenther, CARE’s executive director. “Edmonds residents have long demonstrated their desire for more attainable housing options, and ADUs
fit the bill – literally. ADUs alone will not resolve our housing affordability crisis, but they have an important role to play in
returning housing attainability to the levels that enabled so many
people in our city’s history to build good lives in Edmonds.”

CARE’s ADU resource hub also premieres Janet’s Tiny Home,which tells the story of Janet Good and her son Fred as they embark on the creation of
her backyard cottage in the unincorporated Esperance neighborhood. After
her husband passed, Janet needed a more affordable place to live. Fred
built her a backyard cottage on his lot in Esperance. Picking up on
Fred’s 2021 letter to the editor in My Edmonds News, Janet’s Tiny Home showcases the transformative benefits of an ADU for the Good family: cross-generational connection, resilience and cost savings.

As Edmonds updates its ADU code to reflect 2021 Citizen’s Housing
Commission recommendations, as well as the requirements of House Bill
1337, CARE said it is committed to providing community members with
guidance on their ADU journey. The CARE ADU hub will soon be updated
with a free tool that enables residents to evaluate ADU options for
their property – including zoning constraints, cost estimation and local builders. Interested parties can sign up on the website to be notified
when this tool is available.

Learn more about CARE here.

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Brian Drechsler
March 30, 2024 at 6:23 pm
Cute story. I noticed it wasn’t mentioned, how much? $$$

Reply
Matt Wells
March 31, 2024 at 9:24 am
Brian it wasn’t mentioned because there is no one answer to “how much”. You have a lot of research to do before your question can be answered.
That is the point of the article as there is finally going to be a
single resource to help you navigate through the confusing maze of
having additional housing built on your property.
Click the link and sign up for the newsletter for starters.
Thank you CARE group!

Reply
Brian Drechsler
March 31, 2024 at 10:10 am
Matt, I’m pretty sure SOMEONE knows how much that unit cost. I’m also pretty sure they don’t have to research it or go through a confusing
maze to know how much they wrote the check.

Reply
Mackey Guenther
March 31, 2024 at 11:58 am
Brian, thank you for your question. As others have noted, pricing is

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highly context-dependent, but MyKabin (the folks who built Janet’s unit) provide a good overview of pricing for a number of different ADU sizes
and styles at their website: https://mykabin.com/models/.
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I think the most important point here is that there are ADU options
across the price spectrum. It’s also worth comparing these prices to
those of the other housing options available to folks for whom an ADU
might be a good fight: senior living, for instance.

Jason Thomson
March 31, 2024 at 7:17 am
Wonderful resource and a positive vision.

I am starting the process of converting a garage in Lynnwood to an adu
that will give my Mom a place that is close to family and have
convenience and lower cost than ‘retirement’ home.
To Brian’s comment above. Yes, it’s expensive. However, just like many hurdles in life, there are more things to leverage than just money on a
project like this.
The state of Washington has relaxed non conforming use standards to
allow existing buildings to be converted easily without having to be
updated to existing code. That allows someone like me, who isn’t rich,
to utilize my garage to do this build. Contrary to what some trades
might want you to believe, homeowners are also allowed to self perform construction in Washington State. I will do my own carpentry, plumbing
and electrical to the degree I am able (fully permitted).
One important aspect of increasing density is community. In my case, my neighbors welcome the addition of a new person. Not seen as a burden,
but as increasing community. This movement is allowing control of our neighborhoods back into our hands and reducing government overreach by
allowing homeowners choice.

Reply
Brian Drechsler
March 31, 2024 at 9:40 am
Jason, I wasn’t really looking for a rationalization, and I’m certainly
not inherently against ADU’s. The unit featured was cute, well built,
and look like it fit well on the property. I’m asking how much to have a quality contractor-built home (like this one) costs at 372 square feet,
per foot and plus utilities?

Reply
Jason Thomson
March 31, 2024 at 2:02 pm
Brian,

Thank you for clarifying your question. Context is always hard in text
boxes.

I should’ve been more forthright myself. I am a professional remodeler/general contractor and possess most of the skills to do this.
That said, I’ve seen homeowners do work that puts me to shame.

The pricing answer is. Fairly expensive.. put in a wide range. 175k-250+
would be ‘reasonable’ for full service from design, permitting, construction etc. Given that construction costs are constantly rising
and and desired build quality, my numbers may be off. Often these
projects trigger upgrades to the main house or utilities serving the
property at large, adding project cost but improving both structures.

Apologies for the rationalizations, I jumped to a defensive position
based on repetitive punctuation.

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