The Day I Started Seeing Backyards Differently
I was sipping my morning coffee, staring out the kitchen window at a neighbor’s empty backyard—a stretch of lawn they mowed religiously every Saturday but rarely used. And I thought: “If every backyard in this town had a small home on it… how many people could we house?”
It was one of those moments where curiosity became obsession. I spent the next week digging into zoning laws, housing data, and interviews with ADU builders and planners. The idea wasn’t new—but its untapped potential was overwhelming.
What if we finally took ADUs seriously?
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Counting the Empty Spaces
There are over 83 million owner-occupied homes in the U.S. Most of them are sitting on land big enough for at least one accessory dwelling unit—whether that’s a detached tiny home, a converted garage, or a finished basement.
Now, imagine just 10% of those homeowners building and renting out an ADU.
That’s 8.3 million new housing units—without cutting down a single tree in a new development.
That’s not just relief—it’s revolution.
The Renters Who Would Finally Have a Shot
If you’ve spent any time talking with:
- A 27-year-old barista living with two roommates in a 600 sq ft apartment…
- A 63-year-old retiree scraping by on Social Security in a rundown motel…
- A teacher commuting two hours to school because she can’t afford anything closer…
…you know the shortage isn’t just about “units.” It’s about dignity, proximity, and belonging.
ADUs could be that missing middle.
They offer something rare: affordable, community-based, discreet housing tucked into the fabric of existing neighborhoods.
What’s Holding Us Back?
Zoning Laws
Some cities still treat ADUs like an alien threat. Outdated zoning codes forbid them or bury them in red tape. In many suburban counties, an ADU can still be illegal even if the property is a full acre.
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NIMBYism
It’s a tale as old as suburbia. Homeowners want more housing—as long as it doesn’t touch their neighborhood. But the irony? Most of these ADUs would belong to the homeowners themselves.
Financing Fears
An ADU can cost anywhere from $80,000 to $250,000 to build. Few homeowners have that kind of money lying around. Home equity lines of credit, construction loans, and prefab ADU packages help—but they’re still not widely marketed.
The Promise of the ADU Movement
Across California, Oregon, and even parts of Texas, cities have begun to get out of their own way. They’ve reformed zoning codes, offered financing assistance, and sped up permits. The results?
- In Portland, ADU construction outpaced single-family home construction in some neighborhoods.
- In Los Angeles, ADU permits jumped from just a few hundred a year to over 6,000 annually after zoning changes.
- In Austin, prefab companies now offer ADU packages that can be installed in less than 6 months.
The concept works. It just needs more champions.
Can We Regulate This Without Screwing It Up?
This is where the dream gets complicated—and where local government matters more than federal funding.
Can We Prevent Price-Gouging?
Yes—with willpower and creativity.
Cities could require:
- Rent caps on ADUs in exchange for tax breaks
- Income-qualified tenants in exchange for fast permits
- Public ADU registries to ensure fair housing compliance
But without enforcement, these policies are just window dressing.
Can We Stop the Airbnb Grab?
Absolutely—but again, only if we try.
Many cities have begun banning ADUs from being used as short-term rentals. The best approaches include:
- Mandatory lease length minimums (e.g. 90 days)
- Fines for noncompliance tied to property taxes
- Automated tracking of listings through Airbnb and VRBO’s own APIs
The technology is there. The question is whether the local leaders have the guts.
What If We Actually Did It?
Imagine it: homeowners across the country build small, efficient ADUs—just one per household. They rent them out to teachers, veterans, single moms, young couples, or aging neighbors. The homes are quiet, beautiful, and energy-efficient.
Instead of building giant apartment blocks or sprawling new suburbs, we add density gently, affordably, invisibly. And neighborhoods stay neighborhoods—just more inclusive ones.
We could close the housing shortage by leveraging land that already exists, infrastructure that’s already in place, and a model that already works.
One Lawn at a Time
Here’s what I believe:
The solution to our housing crisis isn’t just in city hall, or billion-dollar developers, or massive public works projects.
It might be right out your kitchen window—in your own backyard.
And with the right support from local governments—sensible regulations, fair financing, and community leadership—we could change the way America lives.
Not someday.
Not maybe.
But now.
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Gary Fleisher, The Modcoach, writes about the modular and offsite construction industry at Modular Home Source.
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