Accessory dwelling units could change housing landscape in Mass. under new law

It felt like forever for Cara Judd to find her forever home after she sold her small condo during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I got really excited until I started looking around and was devastated by what my options were,” Judd said. “I have a really good job, I had been saving money for a while, it is just me, so my own money I thought was going to go a lot further and when it didn’t, I didn’t know what to do with myself.”

After months of searching, and knowing she wanted to be near her parents in West Newbury, Massachusetts, they had an idea: What if Judd built an accessory dwelling unit on the back of their home?

Judd fell in love with the idea.

“There are a lot of people that are probably like me that thought their money would go a little bit further, and there are just not a lot of options that are out there,” she added.

West Newbury allows ADUs, as they are called, and thanks to a new state law, many more cities and towns across Massachusetts will, as well.

Gov. Maura Healey signed the Affordable Housing Act into law last month.

The largest housing bill in Massachusetts history, the Affordable Homes Act, was signed into law by Gov. Maura Healey. Here’s how it’s meant to help ease the state’s housing crunch.

“It creates housing at no cost to the state, and it also creates opportunities in a lot of cities and towns,” said Secretary Edward Augustus of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities.

Augustus and the commonwealth estimate the Affordable Housing Act will lead to 8,000-10,000 ADUs in the next five years.

“Taking some of the pressure off our housing market, creating more supply, which hopefully loosens up and hopefully creates some competition in that space,” Augustus said. “Cities and towns have questions, understandably so, so we are working closely with them on what the responsibilities of the town is to comply with this ordinance, and ways we can support them as they support homeowners who make this decision.”

Chris Lee started Backyard ADUs four-and-a-half years ago and says interest has exploded in the last month.

“We have just seen an explosion in demand, we are doing everything we can to keep up,” Lee said. “They are saying it is this, or nothing, there is not affordable rentals out there, there is not affordable condos out there.”

He said people are intrigued by the size, cost and timeline.

“It is absolutely skyrocketing, our inbound inquiries doubled last month,” Lee said.

Building a house can take 9-12 months. Most ADUs, which are assembled offsite and trucked in, can be built and finished in about 10 weeks, the company estimates.

The Massachusetts Association of Realtors also supports the new act.

“We are really starting to see momentum build behind the production of more housing,” said Justin Davidson, general counsel and director of government affairs for the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. “If we don’t build the housing we need to meet demand, we won’t have the state we all want to live and work in.”

Housing advocates say the Affordable Housing Act is a start, but more has to be done.

“ADUs are a really important strategy to create more homes, more opportunities in communities,” said Jesse Kanson-Benanav, head of Abundant Housing Massachusetts. “It is bad out there, it is a really bad situation in Massachusetts.”

“We are not going to solve our housing crisis, we are not going to address this housing shortage with this ADU law alone, it is one really important tool in the tool kit,” he added. “We need to think of other strategies to build more homes, to make homes more affordable and to help keep people housed.”

Judd is ready to move in to hers, knowing big things can come in small packages.