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The Los Angeles Innovation Team has spent the past two years on a project trying to make backyard accessory dwelling units (ADUs) more affordable to build, spurred on by LA's housing shortage.
The project was named the winner of the urban design category of Fast Company‘s 2018 World Changing Ideas Awards, and while ADUs are not anticipated to solve Los Angeles' housing shortage completely, interest in granny flats has surged. In 2016, 120 permits were issued for ADUs. In 2017, 2,342 permits were issued, and Fast Company reports that LA plans for 10,000 total units by 2021.
The ADU initiative began with a 2015 grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies for the city to form an “Innovation Team,” which L.A.’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, told to focus on the growing problem of displacement from rising rents. City officials quickly realized that the homes were cheaper to build than apartments in large-scale developments. They also learned that, despite the abundance of single-family homes with yards in L.A., few residents were applying for permits to build.
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