Casita Coalition Hosts East Bay Tour of Multifamily ADUs
Last week, Casita Coalition invited Sen. Nancy Skinner and friends for a tour of multifamily ADU projects in Northern California’s East Bay region, where they visited ADUs developed by Casita members Villa Homes and AvalonBay Communities, and by new friend of Casita Klingbeil Capital Management. Casita Coalition founder Denise Pinkston led the group that also included Carol Galante of UC Berkeley’s Terner Center for Housing Innovation.
With its proximity to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, the East Bay is one of California's regions in most need of attainable housing, with more than half its residents burdened by high housing costs[1]. The tour showcased apartment communities where owners are converting existing underutilized space into new rental homes using California’s multifamily ADU allowance. Seeing the real-world realization of Casita’s policy reform work is always a thrill.
Former garages are now functional apartments
While ADU garage conversions on properties with one primary residence are familiar to most of us, multifamily garage ADU conversions are a newer phenomenon that we were pleased to share with Senator Skinner and her team. Our first stop, pictured above, took us to an apartment complex in El Cerrito, CA. We began our tour through several tuck-under garages undergoing conversion and we finished our tour with a walkthrough of two fully converted ADU apartments. The project, just one block from a BART station, is adding sixteen one-bedroom apartments of 600-700 sq ft converted from garages and commercial space.
An underutilized maintenance room converted into a cozy cottage
Our last stop, also pictured, took us to Fremont, CA. This multifamily property owner identified an underutilized maintenance room and converted it into a detached ADU. Looking at the completed cottage, the origin story is a remarkable one. You can learn more about AvalonBay Communities and their many ADU projects here.
SB 1211 proposes to add covered and uncovered parking as eligible for ADU conversions
Our site visit concluded with a very important conversation about the potential of SB 1211, authored by Senator Skinner and sponsored by Casita Coalition. SB 1211 Improves flexibility for ADU type and location of ADUs on multifamily properties. You can learn more about SB 1211 and about Casita-support policies on our page. Read about Villa Homes and their multifamily ADU projects here.
Big thanks to Senator Skinner for her commitment to improving housing affordability and availability for California residents, and to our members for sharing their exciting projects with our group!
Build the Middle with Casita Coalition
Working together, Casita Coalition and our partners are shifting the housing landscape toward a reality of more inclusive neighborhoods and attainable homes. In April we celebrated 100,000+ ADUs permitted in California since 2017, when the first Casita co-authored ADU bills became law. Last month we celebrated Colorado, Arizona, and Hawaii adopting statewide ADU and middle housing laws. Join us in achieving our bold vision together.
[1] https://www.acgov.org/cda/planning/housing-element/documents/Alameda-County_FINAL-Appendix-A-Needs-Assess.pdf