This Experiment Undid Our Cities. How Do We Fix It?

[mrbigstuff]

Ted King wrote:
I don't have firm ideas on how to fix it, but I thought I'd share something that is happening in my neighborhood that seems to be almost organically addressing the problem. In Portland if you own a single family home with a large enough lot (which can be as small as 5000 ft² I think), you can put down an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) with up to 800 ft². They are popping up a fair bit in my neighborhood and being rented out. Empty lots are being built on with two story small single family dwellings that are packed together pretty tight but still have a little space for themselves.

These dwellings are still too expensive for someone making minimum wage but I think it is easing the competition for smaller, more compact dwellings so it may be helping a little bit.

these are solutions that will make a real impact. the problem, as the problem with all zoning, is that the purview often lay with multiple agencies or municipalities, making the regulations difficult to standardize, adding to complexity and cost from place to place. in my area, the allowances range from 900sf to 1200 or even 1500sf with certain special permits. but, again, once the permitting agencies begin adding regs on top of by-right allowances, it complicates things.


and yet, I do think it's a great solution to many "but my kids can't afford to live here" and "what do we do with grandma?" types of situations.