A brand new examine has discovered that regardless of the statewide legalization of accent dwelling items (ADUs) in 2024, manufacturing stays critically low as Massachusetts stays within the high 5 U.S. states for outmigration.
Small houses positioned on the identical property as bigger, major dwellings, ADUs present one other alternative for housing as Massachusetts continues to expertise a housing scarcity. Householders can use yard cottages or convert garages, basements and attics into ADUs, that’s, if authorities crimson tape doesn’t get in the way in which of any manufacturing.
The examine, performed by the Pioneer Institute, blames native zoning and allowing practices that discourage improvement. Whereas the state estimates that it wants 222,000 new housing developments over the following decade, the Institute discovered that solely 550 ADUs have been permitted in your complete first half of 2025.
“Without actionable policy changes, young people will continue to leave Massachusetts in droves and many older adults will be trapped in large homes that no longer suit their needs,” stated Andrew Mikula, Senior Housing Fellow on the Pioneer institute. “The state needs to keep iterating on its recent reforms to expand opportunities for homeowners to build ADUs.”
“There might be some legislative fatigue on the part of zoning in Massachusetts between ADU legalization and before that the MBTA Communities Act. But, I think that ADUs are a minimally destructive, incremental way of building new housing and solving our housing challenges that keeps the results, the solutions, close to where the demand is generated from. Its people who are identifying the needs among their own family members or friends or community members and responding. We need more of that to get to a place where we can solve this problem.”
Mikula provides that California in contrast noticed excessive ADU manufacturing due to zoning reforms enacted in 2016, most notably of which allowed property homeowners to transform present buildings to ADUs by proper.
Different reforms in California allowed ADUs in new building, allowed a number of ADUs per property, and enacted a required, set timeline for municipal companies to evaluate allow purposes. The Pioneer Institute says {that a} quarter of the brand new houses permitted in California are ADUs, with over 30,000 receiving a allow final 12 months.
“I’d like to see us follow in the footsteps of California, Washington state and most recently Arizona and some others in making it even easier for homeowners to build ADUs in their backyard,” Mikula stated. “Its much more preemptive there (California) as opposed to it being kind of contextual here.”
Different housing advocates say three attributes will result in extra ADU manufacturing in Massachusetts: by-right allowing, minimizing off-street parking necessities, and permitting non-owner-occupied preparations. Massachusetts at the moment prohibits “unreasonable requirements” for ADU improvement.
Buz Artiano, who owns the Carver-based customized ADU developer BuildX, says whereas he applauds the state’s new ADU rules as “a massive step forward for homeowners who want to keep their extended families close by,” he’s additionally calling on lawmakers to do extra.
“Setbacks and septic rules kill a lot of potential projects, and permits are hard-won in some communities. Lawmakers could be doing a lot more to improve predictability and lower costs,” Artiano stated.
The examine additionally says that to ensure that all of Massachusetts to succeed in its housing targets, Boston should develop ADUs at a a lot sooner tempo.
“When your largest city is behind the curve, I think that leads to a vote of no confidence from the lenders, who are trying to find a way to finance this stuff,” Mikula stated. “It’s virtually like an accident of institutional historical past in that Boston has its personal Zoning Enabling Act beneath state regulation“
Pioneer says on the West Coast, ADU improvement is closely concentrated in cities, with Seattle accounting for 9.6% of Washington’s inhabitants however accounting for a minimum of 40% of the ADU permits issued between 2011 and 2023. Between 2016 and 2022, the Institute says Los Angeles permitted 22 instances extra ADUs on a per capita foundation than Boston has within the final six years.
The Pioneer Institute additionally recommends cities and cities put off parking necessities, that the state enable ADUs to be bought individually from the principal dwelling on a property, that the state take away the particular allow requirement for a number of ADUs on rather a lot, and that lenders require ADU coaching for appraisers so items may be cataloged and valued.
