California towns with cute 'backyard cottages' are booming - but not everyone is happy about it READ MORE: Costco's ambitious new plan to help fix California's housing crisis By James Cirrone For Dailymail.Com Published: 16:57 EDT, 6 October 2024 | Updated: 16:57 EDT, 6 October 2024 e-mail 10 View comments Californians are sidestepping the state's acute housing shortage and soaring property prices by building cute cottages in their backyards - but not everyone is happy about this new development. Advocates say in-law suites or accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are the quickest and easiest way to get people into livable homes.
But some experts are warning that ADUs can drive down the price of single-family homes in neighborhoods because potential buyers may not want to live near the tenant of the backyard unit. Others complain that these tiny homes are not a comparable substitute for building more traditional homes to combat housing shortages. Despite this, many people are continuing to build ADUs - often to house elderly relatives who need assistance and have no use for a big home anymore.
After Teddy Gray King's mother passed away in 2021, she decided to move her 88-year-old father into a prefabricated house on her property in Piedmont, a small Bay Area town just outside Oakland. Pictured: An accessory dwelling unit on display. Many of them aren't bigger than 1,000 square feet and have one bedroom Read More Wealthy Americans are building smaller luxury homes in grounds of thei.
