Boston's city officials are reconsidering the value of granny flats. A tiny home prototype outside City Hall and policy reforms are two of the city's first steps toward adding more affordable housing.
Loeb Fellow at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, James Shen created Plugin House, a tiny home erected in five hours, as a pop-up prototype of potential, future affordable housing. Boston is reforming its accessory dwelling unit (ADU) rules as part of a "silver buckshot" approach: using a variety of policies to solve housing affordability issues. CityLab reports that Beantown's "ultimate goal is to increase supply and diversify the housing stock." Marcy Ostberg, director of the Mayor's Housing Innovation Lab, says, “Land is a critical component in affordability. We’re trying to think creatively about how to use our existing land most effectively.”
Last week, a prototype of a simple, 360-square-foot dwelling called the Plugin House appeared outside Boston City Hall. The crisp white box, unfurnished but with portals for plumbing and electricity ready to go, took about 5 hours for a five-person team to assemble ... It represents something significant: In a city where everything from roof decks to chicken coops is strictly regulated, Boston is encouraging residents to build little houses in their backyards.
