Tiny Homes, Big Impact

As a society, it is easy to focus on major initiatives in an effort to address our current housing crisis. There are few things more exciting for us as architects and advocates than seeing residents move into a new large-scale housing community that we helped create. That said, these projects require significant time, effort and resources and cannot be the only weapon in our arsenal.

Some of the unsung heroes of the housing crisis are the smaller, more incremental projects that help fill in the gaps with shorter time frames and less upfront investment. We are dedicating this newsletter to a celebration of these smaller projects that, when added up, can have an enormous impact.

Accessory Dwelling Units

Building Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) has not always been as streamlined as it is today. Less than 10 years ago jurisdictions around the state still did not have consistent rules governing ADUs and many zoning codes made it nearly impossible to build them.

Nonetheless, Gunkel Architecture has been pushing the envelope since our inception as a firm, creating additional, affordable-by-design housing on single-family properties. In the early days, when ADUs went through the same cumbersome approval process as new single-family homes, there were often no incentives to keep the ADUs under a specific size or height. Many of our earliest ADUs were also among our largest (and they often included their own off-street parking as required by the zoning of the day).

In recent years, as the State has streamlined the review process, relaxed the rules, and forced the hand of many resistant jurisdictions in order to incentivize ADU construction. Not only have off-street parking requirements been waived in most cases but ADUs can now replace the previously required parking for the main/existing house/building. This has inspired many garage conversions to ADUs.

Single-family homes are now allowed one ADU and one Junior ADU (conversion of small existing non-habitable space into an efficiency unit). And multi-family properties (such as apartment buildings) are now allowed two ADUs, thus increasing the residential density beyond that allowed otherwise by the zoning code. In many cases, ADUs can be as large as 1,200 square feet. We have even designed an ADU that functions as co-living for three unrelated adults.

Because of recent incentives, ADUs are being built in record numbers. Almost every residential lot in the State is an opportunity for additional housing units. ADUs from conception to occupancy can take half the time it might take for a large-scale housing community to complete. All of this adds up to limitless opportunities to increase our housing supply through small-scale development.

Non-Profit Partners

Recognizing the tremendous potential to help address housing demand, some jurisdictions are further incentivizing ADU development by creating programs that assist property owners with personalized guidance, project management, and financing. These jurisdictions, in many cases, are partnering with non-profit housing organizations to provide these services.

One such partner is Hello Housing which is administering ADU programs in Alameda County, San Mateo County, and Daly City. In conjunction with Hello Housing, Gunkel Architecture has worked with homeowners throughout the Bay Area to provide much needed affordable-by-design housing on a short timeframe with limited upfront investment.

Homeless Action Sonoma

The ADU movement has also inspired some housing providers by helping them recognize that, in a crisis such as the one we are currently experiencing, tiny houses are better than no houses at all. Gunkel Architecture recently worked with Homeless Action Sonoma to create a village of 22 tiny homes for those transitioning out of homelessness.

These tiny homes were permitted through a streamlined process and built off-site then delivered in mass to provide some quick temporary relief to the housing shortage in the area. At the same time, Gunkel Architecture has been working with Homeless Action Sonoma on the design of permanent facilities for the site that will include supportive housing, a shelter, vocational training facilities and a full-service, resident-managed restaurant that will serve the general public.

To date we estimate that, through ADUs and tiny homes alone, we have been able to provide roughly 50 units of housing around the Bay Area. And we currently have a dozen or so more in design or construction. These small projects don’t typically make the headlines, but their cumulative impact can be quite substantial.