SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Sacramento city officials have announced construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) built by local property owners was up 123% in 2021.
ADUs, also known as, “granny flats” is an affordable housing structure built on private property and typically either attached or detached to a single-family home.
The development of ADUs in Sacramento has made it possible for the city to accommodate low-income residents and combat the city’s homeless epidemic.
According to the city of Sacramento, the number of ADUs jumped from 76 in 2020 to 170 in 2021.
The city constructed a total of 3,364 new housing units in 2021, which included 1,235 affordable housing units of low-income residents.
In February, Sacramento became the first jurisdiction in California to win the state’s Prohousing Designation Program, giving the city an advantage to compete for low-income housing developments.
During a press conference that announced the designation, Sacramento was praised by officials for adopting “a remarkable series of actions” during its successful period of housing development and accommodation for low-income residents.
“We still have work to do, but I’m proud that our city has steadily lowered the barriers to building a variety of infill housing types we desperately need to address our twin crises of affordability and climate change,” said Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
The city has plans to make ADUs more affordable and easily accessible in the future as it sets out to launch a new online resource center for housing.
Set to launch in June 2022, the online resource center will include tools, information and step-by-step instructions for property owners in Sacramento who want to develop ADUs.
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