Omaha, NE November 14, 2019
Eli Spevak, Orange Splot LLC
(Re) Introducing ...
Petite, Discreet and Affordable Homes
for Today’s Smaller Households
• ¾ people 50+ want
to stay in homes
and communities
• Homesharing on
the rise, up from 2-16%
• 1/3 homeowners interested in building
ADUs for help, income, and
companionship Available at
https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/community/info-
2018/2018-home-community-preference.html
What DO older adults want?
Young people need housing too
Inspirations
Author, Illustrator and Inspiration: Daniel Pinkwater
Historic Precedents
Where I’ve Lived
Pop Culture
Terms of Endearment
Melrose Place
123 Sesame Street
Quaint little LEED Platinum
homes
“Missing Middle” Housing Types
For Traditional, Walkable Neighborhoods
Row Homes
James Borchert’s “Alley Life
in Washington, DC”
Mason St. Townhomes
Courtyard Clusters
Courtyard Clusters
Courtyard Clusters: Cohousing
Courtyard Clusters: Cohousing
Duplex, Corner Lot
Duplex – Side-by-Side and Up-Down
Internally Divided Larger Homes
Accessory Dwelling Units
Caleb & Tori Bruce’s main house -> ADU
Jefferson’s house while Monticello was getting
built (Lester Walker, A Little House of My Own)
Sabin Green ADU by Orange Splot LLC
Accessory Dwelling Units
Bruce and Carolyn Nelson’s detached ADU
Derin & Andra Williams’ basement ADUGranger House internal ADU
Detached Bedrooms
Ruth’s Cottages (Orange Splot LLC)
Tiny Homes
Wagons on the trail!
Families living out of covered wagons Lina Menard’s “Lucky Penny”
Tiny Homes
Built by Orange Splot LLCBoneyard Collective in Washington, DC
Dee Williams and her tiny house
Caravan: The Tiny House Hotel
Tiny Homes: Community by Necessity
Bringing Back the Boarding House!
The Farmhouse
Euclid Manor
Boarding House
Flora & Ulysses (by Orange Splot LLC)
The Forge
(Re) Introducing the ADU
Famous ADU dwellers
Above Mr. Cunningham’s garage
In the front yard setback
(not allowed in most juridictions)
In the atticIn the basement
Jefferson’s house while Monticello
was getting built
Who lives in ADUs?
From Jordan Palmeri, Oregon DEQ
Too many names!
Carriage House
Granny Flat
In-law Suite
Mother-in-law Flat
Sidekick
Laneway House
Backyard Cottage
Garden Suite
Secondary Dwelling Unit (SDU)
Tiny House
Basement Apartment
Next Gen
Grand Retreat
Ancillary Unit
Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)
Photo: City of Santa Cruz
What’s an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)?
An accessory dwelling unit (ADU) is a second dwelling unit on
a single family residential lot.
Why so much interest in ADUs?
1. Lack of Housing Choice
2. Familiarity & Acceptance (A long
standing American Tradition)
Chicago, IL coach house
Evanston, IL coach house
3. Adaptibility: Flexible for All Stages of
Life; Short & Long term uses
35
Bruce and Carolyn Nelson’s detached ADU
4. Multi-Generational Housing
Lesa Dixon-Gray’s mom Shirley
(from Lina Menard’s post in www.accessorydwellings.org)
Kavita Daswani, LA Times
Sandra Keenan, NYT
Laure Joliet, NYT
5. Demographics: Smaller Homes for
Smaller Households
Source: City of Milwaukie and URBSWORKS
1 person
16%
2 persons
31%
3+ persons
53%
Share of Households by Size, 1960
State of Oregon
1 person
19%
2 persons
33%
3+ persons
48%
Share of Households by Size, 1970
State of Oregon
1 person
23%
2 persons
35%
3+ persons
42%
Share of Households by Size, 1980
State of Oregon
1 person
25%
2 persons
36%
3+ persons
39%
Share of Households by Size, 1990
State of Oregon
1 person
26%
2 persons
36%
3+ persons
38%
Share of Households by Size, 2000
State of Oregon
1 person
27%
2 persons
36%
3+ persons
37%
Share of Households by Size, 2010
State of Oregon
6. Environmental Benefits of Small Homes
~80%~15%
2011 Study by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
From Jordan Palmeri, Oregon DEQ
7. Affordability
From Jordan Palmeri, Oregon DEQ
8. Great niche for small/emerging
contractors and architects
9. Politically Palatable: Discreet Density &
Disbursed Impact
10. Property rights: Why shouldn’t I be allowed
to build one?
11. Aging in Place without leaving the
neighborhood
A few more reasons to support ADUs
Sample
Rules for
ADUs
Even with
supportive
regulations, not a
lot of ADUs get
built because…
Who Builds ADUs?
Amateur homeowner developers
OrangeSplot.net
Eli Spevak
eli@orangesplot.net
Bonus Slides
Portland’s ADU Story
Re:PDX.com blog post
Portland’s ADU History
ADUs permitted per year & Applicable Regulations
0"
100"
200"
300"
400"
500"
600"
700"
1991"1992"1993"1994"1995"1996"1997"1998"1999"2000"2001"2002"2003"2004"2005"2006"2007"2008"2009"2010"2011"2012"2013"2014"2015"2016"2017"2018"
1996 - 2009
ALLOWED
BY RIGHT
NO OFF
STREET
PARKING
NO
MINIMUM
LOT SIZE
SIZE CAP:
PRIMARY
HOUSE
“A”
OVERLAY
ZONE
ONLY
INTERNAL
CONVERSION
ONLY
OWNER
OCCUPANCY
DESIGN
COMPATIBILITY
ALLOWED
CITY-WIDE
TYPES:
INTERNAL
ADDITIONS
DETACHED
CAN
RENT
BOTH
UNITS
IMPACT
FEES
50%
SIZE CAP
33% / 800SF
ADU Blast Off ??
Portland’s ADU History
ADUs permitted per year & Applicable Regulations
0"
100"
200"
300"
400"
500"
600"
700"
1991"1992"1993"1994"1995"1996"1997"1998"1999"2000"2001"2002"2003"2004"2005"2006"2007"2008"2009"2010"2011"2012"2013"2014"2015"2016"2017"2018"
2015 - 2016
ALLOWED
BY RIGHT
NO OFF
STREET
PARKING
NO
MINIMUM
LOT SIZE
DESIGN
COMPATIBILITY
ALLOWED
CITY-WIDE
TYPES:
INTERNAL
ADDITIONS
DETACHED
CAN
RENT
BOTH
UNITS
IMPACT
FEES
50%
SIZE CAP
75% / 800SF
IMPACT
FEES
WAIVED
DESIGN
COMPATIBILITY
What’s New with ADUs?
1. New Financial Products and
Appraisal Guidelines
2. Cost saving strategies:
Inexpensive, production models
Prefabricated ADUs
Dweller Wolf Tiny Homes
Shelter Solutions
3. Separating ownership to
create affordable starter homes
Sabin Green
Woodstock Gardens
Applewood Corner Everett Custom homes ADU
Waterlily Homes (Austin, TX)
Waterlily Homes (Austin, TX)
Sabin Green
Applewood Corner Condo
Applewood Corner
4. Affordable ADU Pilots
West Denver,
CO
Los Angeles, CA
Silicon Valley in CA
5. Supportive Regulations at the
City, Regional and State level
State ADU
Mandates
• Oregon
• Washington
• New Hampshire
• California
• Vermont
• Washington, DC
Regional ADU
Initiatives
• Chicago area
• Bay Area, CA
• Boston area
• Atlanta area
• Washington, DC area
More cities allow both an internal
and detached ADU
• Vancouver, BC
• Tigard, OR
• Seattle, WA
• Sonoma County, CA
• Fayetteville, AR
Cities welcome ADUs
Cities (and some entire states) drop
owner-occupancy and off street parking
requirements
19,000+ incorporated
jurisdictions in the US, each
with their own zoning code!
But still a long way to go...
5. Rethinking Single Family Zoning
• 2018: Minneapolis updated its
comprehensive plan to allow three-
family homes on any residential lot
• 2019: Oregon passed HB 2001,
which requires all cities over a certain
size to allow duplexes, triplexes,
fourplexes and/or cottages clusters in
all residential zones
Additional Resources
AccessoryDwellings.org
Includes:
•Case studies
•Videos
•Tour info
•Zoning code
•Appraisal guide
•Financing guide
•Research
Making the case for a more diverse housing stock
www.orangesplot.net/rese
arch/
Accessory
Dwelling Units
Internal Home
Conversions
Cottage
Clusters
Corner
Duplexes
Zoning Codes: The ADU Spectrum
• Pre-existing ADUs cease to be legal if not
continuously occupied
• Pre-existing ADUs are allowed, but no new
ones
• New ADUs are allowed, but closely regulated
• New ADUs encouraged, sometimes 2x lot
Portland’s Residential Infill Project
(RIP)
HOUSINGOPTI
6. Allow small flag lots through property line adjustments (R5 and R2.5 zones).
a. Require that the existing house be retained and exempt from FAR limits at the time of the property
line adjustment review.
b. In the R5 zone, limit the height of the house on the flag lot to 20 feet, limit its size to 1,000 square
feet and require additional exterior design elements.
7. Continue to allow different building forms and site arrangements through a planned
development review (R7, R5, and R2.5 zones). Align density allowances and review procedure
thresholds between planned developments and land divisions.
House + ADU
House + 2 ADUs
Duplex
Duplex + ADU
Triplex
Fourplex
1
Vermont
(2005)
California

Eli Spevak- (Re) Introducing Petite, Discreet and Affordable Homes for Today's Smaller Households- Evening