WITH RENTS AND HOUSE prices still climbing, Irelands housing crisis isnt going away anytime soon. To find some answers, the country might need some new perspectives.

We believe that there is a tendency to assume that everybodys ideal house is a three-bedroom semi (detached) with a front garden and back garden. Where actually preferences and demographics are shifting to the point where people want very different things, Stephen Bell, the chief executive of development financing firm Cullaun Capital, said.

Bell spoke to Fora as his firm released a report with recommendations made by panellists at a conference held by Cullaun and highlighted a need to change policy to create a variety of accommodation options.

We wanted to open up a dialogue where people talk about those different things, whether that be co-living, private rented sector, nursing homes and all sorts of different things that still constitutes a place that somebody might call home, he said.

Recommendations

Mike Flannery, chief executive of Bartra Capital, said that new categories of houses were needed on the market to accommodate a younger generation that lives on their own into their thirties and can fit into smaller spaces with better facilities.

Both Flannery andArthur OBrien, the managing director at C+W OBrien Architects, noted that new housing configurations are badly needed to meet changing demographic needs.

According to the panel, younger people dont want a long commute to work in urban centres, for both personal and environmental reasons, and also dont necessarily buy into the culture of ownership that once dominated Ireland.

Ireland is only at about 60% urbanisation, compared with a likely typical average of 80%elsewhere. We are going to have to change the whole range of typology. It is not possible with all the willin the world to give everyone a front garden, a back garden and three bedrooms, Flannery said.

According to property website Daft.ies latest rental figures, the average monthly rent has risen to 1,403 per month in the third quarter of this year. Figures from the Central Statistics Office indicate house prices have risen nationally by 85.2% and in Dublin by 95% since 2013.

To help alleviate demand, Ireland could copy New Zealand and introduced bonds to incentivise smaller housebuilders, according to Brian McEnery, a partner and head of healthcare at accountancy firm BDO Dublin and a former director at Nama.

Housing is very, very complex. Its behavioural, its economic, its developmental and its governmental. And it takes time. When the pipeline stopped during the crisis, as it did very abruptly, it is slow to rebuild, McEnery said.

In 2018, there were more than18,000 units built in Ireland and around 21,000 are estimated to be completed by the end of the year.

New Zealand has also rezoned land to have seven years of supply in the pipeline, which is similar to Irelands need, he said.

Derek Poppinga, the managing director at real estate investment and development firm Mm Capital, said the cost of inflation was one of the biggest challenges facing the sector and added that modular housing should be a serious consideration.

He said this cant be achieved at the moment because of a skills gap and added that more resources need to go toward training to attract more people and innovation into the industry.

Fidelma McManus, partner at law firm Beauchamps, said there was a need for affordable public rental houses and pointed to Viennas model, where the city keeps rent low by owning 220,000 homes, with a further 200,000 provided by limited-profit housing associations.

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To solve the housing crisis, Ireland needs to think beyond the three-bedroom house - Fora.ie

After weeks of work, a team of elementary school students will put a wide-range of skills on display this weekend when they take their city shaping, affordable housing and interpersonal skills with hopes of advancing past the first round of the annual First Lego League competition.

The UCode Lego team, which has been meeting for two months at UCodes Ithaca Mall location and working on the project, includes four students from two local schools. Avital Sagan, Shaan Jena and Eafan Chen all go to Elizabeth Ann Clune Montessori School, while Robert Kong attends Northeast Elementary School. They are coached by David Sagan, a Cornell physicist and senior research associate. The competition is being held this weekend in Corning, with 17 teams competing from around the region. If the UCode team is able to place in the top 40 percent of participants, they move onto the next round of competitors. UCode is a learning program that teaches kids coding and computer programming, among other tech-centric skills.

The team has been working to construct a course and program a robot since the summer. The robot is controlled by a computer that the kids have pre-programmed, mapping out its movements around a city that they have constructed using Legos. The course includes several tasks that the robot, which is also made of Legos, should accomplish, including releasing a swingset and dropping an anvil, among others. The students have 90 seconds to complete all this, meaning they cant waste much time with mistakes or missed tasks.

It all depends how efficient we are, Jena said at a recent practice.

The number of tasks they are able to accomplish are worth certain amounts of points that are added together to compile a final score, along with points picked up from other competition criteria. The robotics aspect makes up one of the three total portions of the competition. The other two are called Core Values, which measures how the teammates interact with each other and the way they handle respecting the other teams while in competition with them, and Innovation Project.

The Innovation Project requires teams to identify a societal problem and then create a solution for it, quite separate from the robot competition. Ithacans ought to be familiar with the problem the team chose to tackle: affordable housing. With so much discussion about that, though, the team wanted to choose a new potential approach to the problem, which led them to settle on a new kind of construction, modular housing, instead of the more conventionally discussed options. The team prepared a PowerPoint presentation, with each member researching and making a different slide, to explain their solution.

Modular housing is made off-site in a factory, then transported to its site and placed on a permanent foundation. This is what separates it from mobile homes, as once they are set in place the intention is for them to stay there long-term. Modular housing is noted for its affordability, since their production is cheaper than on-site home construction, and also its energy-efficiency advantages that are usually included during its factory construction. The team said they felt that modular housing isnt as discussed as other affordable housing solutions, and so, to keep with their intention of thinking outside the box, they chose it as their solution.

We wanted to help the homeless, but we already have a homeless shelter here, Avital Sagan said. So we did research, and modular housing seems kind of underrated.

Confidence is important as well. So, does the team think they will be able to win? When asked, the answer is a resounding no. Then a small pause. As they test the robot, theyre right, sometimes it doesnt work; twice in a row its motions are not strong enough to set the chain of events in motion that will drop the anvil as it is supposed to do. On the third attempt, it works, drawing small cheers from Kong and Jena as they watch.

Its important to have positive expectations, Avital Sagan said.

The rest is here:

UCode youth team takes aim at robotics and affordable housing - ithaca.com

Could modular, pre-fabricated homes be the answer toNew Zealand's housing shortage?

Nautilus Modular'shome that can be builtin a week debutedthis week, sparking several hundred inquiries from potential buyers over 24 hours.

General manager Jason Watkins said the interest had been "extraordinary".

The company had been contacted by families looking for their first home,product designers and large-scale developers and was already having discussions with "a number of parties", he said.

READ MORE:*Home sweet home in under a week, says new modular house builder*Construction headwinds ahead despite falling interest rates*More than $1 billion of shops, restaurants and bars got the green light last year

Founder Peter Marshall hoped the products would get the support of Kiwis who werestruggling to find affordable, comfortable homes.

The prefabricated, standardised modules are not limited to residential dwellings but could also be used asschool rooms, hiking huts and commercial buildings.

SUPPLIED

A peek inside a Nautilus Modular home.

But it's not clear yet how much of a disruption - if any - they couldcreate in the stretched construction sector.

Principal economist at theNew Zealand Institute of Economic Research Eilya Torshizian said modular homes offered a valuable addition to the property market.

"It's providing choices and helping people to construct in a short timeframe. At a larger scale we still don't know what are the preferences of New Zealandhouseholds for modular building," he said.

Nautilus Modular

These pavilion-style homes can be installed in less than a week.

Kiwis might enjoy the option to customise the design, but larger-scale developments using modular homes would probably resultin them looking very similar.

Wider constraints in the sector - the lengthy building consent process, supply chain issues, the size of the market - might not be solved by the introduction of modular homes, he said.

But New Zealand could learn from other countries that had already adopted the modular construction method. They were widely used in Scandinavia, Torshizian said.

SUPPLIED

Peter Marshall, founder of Nautilus Modular, hopes to establish factories across the country to build his modular, prefabricated homes.

"I personally have some doubts about how materialthe role of modular systems in the construction process in New Zealand will be in comparison to other constraints."

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Take a tour of the house that can be built in a week - Stuff.co.nz

SARANAC LAKE Point Positive, an angel investor group based in Saranac Lake, meets with vetted entrepreneurs for pitch sessions twice a year. This October, seven member investors and Point Positive Coordinator Melinda Little met at Workshop in Lake Placid to hear from three entrepreneurs.

Decisions to invest or not are up to the member investors, and the time commitment is tailored to preference. Members can lead, mentor, advise or just monitor, and invest on an individual basis in fully vetted, promising ventures across multiple industry sectors.

The three companies that presented needed various areas of support.

Provider One is a start-up medical scribing business out of Syracuse seeking seed money to develop an app that will allow users to do scribing remotely. The woman-owned, woman-run company is looking to relocate to the North Country and proceed with a beta phase. Provider One became familiar with Point Positive through former entrepreneurs in whom Point Positive has invested previously.

MCM Development, developers from Malone who have already developed apartments in the Richardson building (with a waiting list), are looking to create an Opportunity Zone Fund to help accelerate their second project, the River Building, which is already 55% complete. At the pitch event investors learned about the opportunity to put capital gains in the project so they pay less capital gains or none, depending on the length of time their money is invested.

New Leaf founder and architect Tim McCarthy, who currently operates out of a warehouse in Bombay, New York, attended the pitch event seeking advice to further his business and manufacturing plans. He has produced customized versions of net-zero modular homes and has developed a design for a single-box version. He has a vision of building these homes now in large quantities in an expanded facility in Bombay. He is looking to establish next steps financially as he works to verify the cost to produce and source interest with pre-funding. Point Positive member investors have expressed and shown interest, and Point Positive is facilitating the process whereby interns from Clarksons Shipley Center will assist McCarthy with the financial analyses needed.

Investments committed to entrepreneurs through Point Positive are taxed a modest percentage to support Point Positives overall operations. In addition, potential investors are charged an annual membership fee that allows them to participate in Point Positives research and due diligence, and to attend the semi-annual pitch sessions. Over the past four years, Point Positive has vetted more than 40 ventures from a wide range of industries, committing over $3 million in capital, fueling new jobs and a stronger, diversified economy in the Adirondacks.

The next pitch events are scheduled for next year: Friday, July 31 and Monday, Oct. 5, 2020.

Original post:

Point Positive hears from entrepreneurs at fall pitch event | News, Sports, Jobs - The Adirondack Daily Enterprise

Mart Research new study, Global Manufactured Housing MarketReport cover definite aggressive standpoint including the piece of the overall industry & profiles of the key members working in the worldwide market.

The global Manufactured Housing market will reach Volume Million USD in 2019 and with a CAGR xx% between 2020-2026.

Manufactured Housing Market Segment as follows:

Manufactured Housing Market by Type(Market Size & Forecast, Major Company of Product Type etc.):

Mobile Homes

Modular Homes

Pre-cut Homes

Get a free sample report:https://martresearch.com/contact/request-sample/4/3286

Manufactured Housing Market by Application(Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.):

Residential

Commercial

Others

Manufactured Housing Key Companies(Sales Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Main Products etc.):

Clayton Homes

Champion Home Builders

Schult Homes

Hammond

Manufactured Housing Enterprises, Inc.

Cavco

BonnaVilla

Crest Homes

Titan Homes

Sunshine Homes

River Birch

Pine Grove Homes

Nashua Builders

Moduline Homes

Marlette Homes

Karsten Homes

Kent Homes

Giles Industries

Fleetwood

Design Homes

Franklin Homes

Destiny Home Builders

Commodore Corporation

American Homestar Corporation

Colony Homes

Cappaert Manufactured Housing

Cardinal Homes

Chariot Eagle

Golden West Homes

HALLMARK-SOUTHWEST

Manufactured Housing By Region

Place the Order of Global Manufactured Housing Market Research Report:https://martresearch.com/paymentform/4/3286/Single_User

Some Points from Table of Contents:

Chapter 1 Industry Overview

1.1 Manufactured Housing Industry

1.1.1 Overview

1.1.2 Products of Major Companies

1.2 Market Segment

1.2.1 Industry Chain

1.2.2 Consumer Distribution

1.3 Price & Cost Overview

Chapter 2 Manufactured Housing Market by Type

2.1 By Type

2.1.1 Mobile Homes

2.1.2 Modular Homes

2.1.3 Pre-cut Homes

2.2 Market Size by Type

2.3 Market Forecast by Type

Chapter 3 Global Market Demand

3.1 Segment Overview

3.1.1 Residential

3.1.2 Commercial

3.1.3 Others

3.2 Market Size by Demand

3.3 Market Forecast by Demand

Chapter 4 Major Region Market

4.1 Global Market Overview

4.1.1 Market Size & Growth

4.1.2 Market Forecast

4.2 Major Region

4.2.1 Market Size & Growth

4.2.2 Market Forecast

Chapter 5 Major Companies List

5.1 Clayton Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.2 Champion Home Builders (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.3 Schult Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.4 Hammond (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.5 Manufactured Housing Enterprises, Inc. (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.6 Cavco (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.7 BonnaVilla (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.8 Crest Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.9 Titan Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.10 Sunshine Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.11 River Birch (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.12 Pine Grove Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.13 Nashua Builders (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.14 Moduline Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.15 Marlette Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.16 Karsten Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.17 Kent Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.18 Giles Industries (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.19 Fleetwood (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.20 Design Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.21 Franklin Homes (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.22 Destiny Home Builders (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.23 Commodore Corporation (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

5.24 American Homestar Corporation (Company Profile, Sales Data etc.)

View post:

Global Manufactured Housing Market Size, Share, Growth Rate, Revenue, Applications, Industry Demand & Forecast to 2026 - Eastlake Times

Temporary supportive housing on Terminal Avenue. (File photo)

Supreme Courts ruling a mean-spirited example of establishment versus the people, says letter writer

To the editor,

Re: Temporary supportive housing isnt subject to zoning, says Supreme Court, Nov. 12

After the provincial government overrode zoning bylaws with a community-destroying project, a resident went to the B.C. Supreme Court on behalf of herself and the neighbourhood. The court not only ruled against her, however. On the defendants request, the court ordered she pay the defendants costs. Thats an especially arrogant, mean-spirited expression of the establishment versus the people. Our provincial government, especially our MLA, should be deeply ashamed.

And by the way, the site isnt temporary. The modular homes are temporary the location will later house a permanent building for the same purpose.

Greg Klein, Nanaimo

RELATED: Terminal Ave supportive housing lawsuit goes before B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo

The views and opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the writer and do not reflect the views of Black Press or the Nanaimo News Bulletin. If you have a different view, we encourage you to write to us or contribute to the discussion below.

Continue reading here:

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Neighbourhood around supportive housing disrespected - Nanaimo News Bulletin

Italian designerLuca Nichetto has created furnishings, including tables, sofas and benches, to be used in workspaces, residences and museum galleries.

Designed in collaboration with American brand Bernhardt Design, the Luca Collection marks Nichetto's US furniture debut. The designer wanted to create "universal" pieces that suit various environments and that can be arranged both collectively and individually.

"The brief was to create a modular seating system so I immediately gravitated towards designing something universal, meaning that it works as a collective but also as freestanding pieces," the designer said.

"These days public spaces are becoming more like home, and our homes are becoming more public, so why not do something that can cross over to both worlds?" Nichetto added.

"I wanted to do a project that emphasised the idea of 'connecting by communicating,' designing a classical typology as a modular seat with a little twist, allowing it to fit into any environment."

The 41 pieces in the collection all feature "gentle curves" and were designed for display and use in a range of interiors.

"The collection, with its uniformity and gentle curves, was conceived to anchor open spaces in diverse environments ranging from museum galleries and corporate lounges to modern living rooms," Nichetto continued.

Seating options in Luca include upholstered benches, loveseats, chaises, and sofas, which easily connect to one another either linearly or by their curved corners. All of the pieces come in modular and can be re-configure in a number of ways.

Upholstery on the pieces is also customisable and can include any of Bernhardt Textile's designs, leather, or leather alternatives. Legs are available in a polished aluminium, matte black or satin white.

To make the series adaptable to working environments, the designer has inset a flat, wood board into several of the pieces that can be used as a work surface or end table. Several outlet ports for charging devices or lamps are also included.

Freestanding rectangular and circular benches and poufs are designed to provide colourful accents to the larger furnishings, which feature the same curved forms in their design.

Tables in the collection were designed to meet the various needs of both commercial and domestic settings and come in a variety of shapes and heights. Designs include rounded accent tables, rectangular coffee tables and circular laptop stands.

Finishes for the tabletops include oak, walnut, solid laminate or Corian and cast aluminium or matte on the angled legs.

Luca Nichetto founded Nichetto Studio in 2006. His previous projects include a colourful lighting collection that uses Murano glass and the Canal Chair which pays homage to Venice through its boat like form and pattern.

Bernhardt Design was started in 1980 by the 130-year-old Bernhardt Furniture Company and represents many designers including Ross Lovegrove, No Duchaufour-Lawrance and Yves Behar. In 2015 French designer No Duchaufour-Lawrance created a collection of oval shaped lounges for the brand and to celebrate its 125th anniversary it commissioned several designers to reinterpret a piece of traditional American furniture.

Read the rest here:

Luca Nichetto designs modular furniture to work in public spaces and the home - Dezeen

The future of Kiwi homes may be found in those that look the same and can be put up fast.

Currently around 10 per cent of new homes are flatpack or pre-fabricated, meaning they're built off-site and transported, or put together like Lego blocks from a factory.

But that's expected to expand, with planned Government changes and new tech taking up residency around the country.

Wanaka company Nautilus Modular claims its factory homes can be made the fastest.

Bunnings believes its flatpack homes are among the cheapest.

And Fletcher Building reckons the factory it makes them in is the biggest.

Scott Fisher, Prefab NZ CEO, says its a growing industry.

It's an industry going from strength to strength and there's a lot of great innovation happening in the sector, he says.

Prefabricated homes have been around in New Zealand for a long time.

The 1920's railway housing scheme used pattern books and prefab as did much of the state housing in the 1930's and 50's.

Despite this just 10 per cent of new builds today are constructed off-site.

"In reality there's going to be the market but the issues related to financing of the product in the first instance are significant, planning for the product resource consenting the product, and then residual value, says John Tookey, AUT Engineering Professor.

Another problem, New Zealanders want big, traditional houses.

But a series of changes are tipped to make prefabricated homes a lot more attractive such as streamlining consent processes.

You can strip out a lot of time, a lot of effort and a lot of hurdles put in the way of getting rapid consents in place, says Mr Tookey.

Up to 90 per cent of homes already have at least some prefabricated parts - like roof or wall trusses, or whole bathroom modules for apartments thats expected to increase too.

Read the original here:

Watch: Flatpack homes touted as future of Kiwi housing industry - TVNZ

On a corner lot along West Dakota Avenue in Westwood, a small structure has sprung from the backyard of the neighborhoods typical one-story frame house. The detached unit represents a show of resistance in what sometimes seems an inexorable march toward economic displacement.

With only a wooden plank rising to the front door and exposed two-by-fours defining the skeletal framing of what soon will be a fully functional, one-bedroom home, its future still requires some imagination.

But now, says Renee Martinez-Stone, proudly surveying the half-finished construction, people finally can drive by and go, Ah, thats what these things look like.

Shes referring to one version of an accessory dwelling unit ADU in industry parlance, but also known by other names like granny flat, mother-in-law apartment or carriage house. Anchored to a back yard or even constructed above a garage, they serve as a smaller but fully functional residence.

And their popularity has spiked in a market where affordable housing has become unattainable for some and unsustainable for others who cling to homes where they once hoped to stake out a future, and perhaps even hand down their equity in the American Dream.

These dwellings once had a significant role in the development of post-World War II Colorado, but eventually lost cachet as residents flexed for elbow room. Some areas zoned them out of existence for a variety of reasons fear of population density, added traffic or adverse impact on property values.

But many areas, responding to local residents fearful that rising prices and property taxes pose serious threats to the fabric of their communities, have moved to revisit the ADU.

On this side of town, where Martinez-Stone directs the nine-neighborhood West Denver Renaissance Collaborative, the aim is two-fold: create affordable rental housing and, at the same time, give homeowners a way to build wealth.

Still, barriers remain. In Denver, for instance, only about a quarter of single-family neighborhoods allow construction of ADUs. Since the city last overhauled zoning in 2010, the city council has adopted a plan that recommends allowing them citywide, with some caveats.

Denver city planning supervisor Kyle Dalton notes that for the plan to move ahead, city council must enact a bill after more than a year-long process of community outreach to solicit feedback. Theres currently no timeline for addressing that.

In the meantime, Dalton says, the program recommends and we are seeing individuals coming in, one at a time, to have a rezoning process to move that forward while the city is finishing up other priorities before were able to get that project started.

MORE: Colorados doubled-up households have surged since the recession. That could prolong the housing crunch.

Mikaela Firnhaber, Denvers residential plan review supervisor, says that since the 2010 rezoning, ADUs have been gaining popularity. The first year, only two moved through the system. But in 2018, 58 passed through the permitting process. This year has seen a further uptick from that, she adds, though final numbers wont be tallied until years end.

But even where theyre permitted, a tight construction market can make building one an arduous process. On top of that, while ADUs are cheaper than citywide real estate prices, they still can be prohibitively expensive.

Englewood, also responding to rising demand from homeowners, recently passed an ordinance allowing the structures. But it happened amid simmering controversy, and local officials acknowledge that impacted the new regulations, which are among the most restrictive in the state. For instance, a primary home must be brought completely up to code before an ADU would be approved. With many older homes in the area, that could be a deal-breaker right off the bat.

But that hasnt deterred one real estate broker from taking on a partner and creating a whole new construction company to capitalize on what they see as an inevitably rising demand for the structures.

In unincorporated Jefferson County, which also had a restrictive ordinance on the books for many years, a working group examining ways to help seniors age in place researched ADUs around the country. Eventually, it made recommendations designed to ease construction. When the new regulations went into effect in 2014, applications spiked.

As municipalities, and even some rural areas, revisit the ADU as an antidote to rising prices and property taxes, people like Martinez-Stone seek an answer to two particularly vexing pieces of the puzzle loan availability and construction costs.

When were able to roll out a process of building an ADU more affordably, and its available to more moderate- and low-income homeowners, she says, it can be one of the tools in the tool box thats a part of the solution.

She explains how ADUs could have expanded impact on affordable housing through a program that seeks to leverage $5 million in loans from both public and private sources to help build 200 units for homeowners making no more than 120% of the area median income. Those homeowners would then be obliged to rent the income-restricted units to tenants making no more than 80% AMI or, if they can afford it, allow family members to live there rent-free.

But even some well-off homeowners have embraced ADUs as a housing solution for aging parents or adult children that skirts exploding real estate and rental prices. In other cases, the structures create a source of rental income for the primary homeowner to defray rising expenses, like property taxes, or to provide an economic cushion for retirement.

Critics push back against ADUs with arguments that they increase population density, put further strain on infrastructure and exacerbate traffic and parking problems. Their use as short-term rentals, especially by absentee landlords, raises further concern. And in some cases, opponents contend, they open the door for developers, who may be more likely to afford the high cost of construction.

There are people who wanted to maintain residential Englewood, but its disappearing, says Cynthia Searfoss, a 23-year resident who opposed the citys new ordinance. What people are moving here for, theyre not going to get. Its going, going, gone.

As Rob Price and Gerald Horner sit in the unit they built above the garage behind their home in Curtis Park, noontime light spills through 6-foot-tall windows and illuminates the 660 square feet of living space they envision as their primary residence in retirement.

Conceived in 2016, it was completed a little more than a year ago 19 months after the couple began the permitting process, the search for an architect and two tries at finding the right builder. For now, its an exceptionally well-appointed short-term rental that offers a glimpse of the Denver skyline and walking distance to many of the citys attractions.

We had been thinking about buying something now that we could retire into, and the market was unattainable, says Price, 49, before preparing the space for its next guest. Then we realized we already own this land lets think about building something in the backyard.

MORE: To help fill the affordable housing gap, a Buena Vista project is creating inventory one giant box at a time

After one of Prices childhood friends was diagnosed with terminal cancer, the process began in earnest as they anticipated the ADU as a place where they could care for her in her declining days. They began referring to it as Annas Place. Although she died before it was completed, they incorporated little personal touches in the decor to honor her.

Imagining themselves living in the second-floor flat, notes Horner, the 59-year-old deputy director of the Kirkland Museum of Fine and Decorative Art, informed the spaces design the idea of living simply, but beautifully.

Just as important, they love the Curtis Park neighborhood and hope to stay long after their primary residence becomes more than they need. So they refinanced to cover the cost somewhere north of $250,000 of creating a home on the alley behind their California Street house.

They estimate that in 10 years, the income from using it as a short-term rental will have recouped their investment. If theyre still not ready to leave their house at that point, theyll use the ADU as a long-term rental until that day arrives.

Wed like to be able to offer it at a little more affordable rent than what we could get, says Price, a fundraiser for the Botanic Gardens, because weve benefited from that kind of stuff, too.

Price and Horner wound up using Denver-based L&D Construction, whose president, David Schultz, points out that due to construction expenses, leveraging an ADU as a short-term rental is practically a must to at least get a handle on covering those costs.

I like to think of short-term rentals as the gateway drug to more of these units, Schultz says of the means to create a larger ADU inventory. Ive heard a few council people talking about additional ADUs conditioned on them not being rentals. I think thats really short-sighted.

He notes that the structures are the only form of development thats afforded to the average homeowner. Most of the units his company has built involve constructing living space above a two- or three-car garage, with anywhere from 340 to 800 square feet.

Homeowners often draw on equity from their primary residence to build, largely because construction loans are difficult to get, as appraisals of ADUs can be all over the map. And the city code around ADUs is so nuanced and detailed, he says, that its almost impossible for a layperson to even understand what they can build.

Ive been doing ADUs exclusively for three years, Schultz says, and there are still things that come up that Im not sure of. Then youve got all these other metrics, depending on what zoned district youre in. Its way overly complicated.

In a metro area still growing rapidly, theres another elephant in the room: population density. While some pushback against the units centers on increased proximity to neighbors, Schultz points out that in Denver, population density had actually been declining as families have gotten smaller.

Denver officials confirm that, citing U.S. Census data showing that Denvers density peaked in the 1950s and then fell off considerably until recently, when it returned to about the same level as more than 70 years ago.

We always promote ADU development as a form of gentle density, Schultz says. Its coming, whether the city wants it or not.

In Denver, Martinez-Stone with the West Denver Renaissance Collaborative has been working with builders, as well as Habitat for Humanity, to try to bring down the cost of building ADUs, which she says averages about $260,000.

Were pulling in new housing data showing that its just relentless, the way the market is forcing families that exist right now out of the neighborhoods, she says. We know we need more tools.

Working in partnership with the city, WDRC has designed six floor plans and worked those through permitting ahead of time to streamline the building process. As a result, Martinez-Stone says, these ADUs can be built for at least $100,000 below the market, with the 600-square-foot model running about $150,000. The lower cost enables the homeowner to rent them for less than the market rate and still recover their investment.

The programs target is to construct the 200 ADUs over five years. While that number seems almost inconsequential in terms of the citys ongoing displacement, Martinez-Stone argues that the impact will actually be much greater.

Heres her math: Each new ADU stabilizes the household of the primary residence by providing, in many cases, an income-producing asset. It also benefits the eventual renters with affordable housing; figure an average of three tenants over the 25 years of the program. Finally, the original homeowner can survive the rising property taxes thanks to the extra income and perhaps even pass the property on to the next generation.

So those 200 units ultimately impact about 1,000 households. Martinez-Stone says that currently the city has about 6,000 parcels where ADUs would be allowed enough to get the program started, though additional rezoning would make the search for qualified homeowners easier.

If we could take this and scale it beyond these nine neighborhoods, get more banks and more builders to understand how were doing it, then the numbers start to be relevant, Martinez-Stone says. Now, were taking what the city and the markets havent figured out and were trying to figure it out. What were trying to do is take all those systems, all those steps, and make them more efficient and predictable so we can lower the cost of ADUs.

The corner lot in Westwood already has a primary residence built by Habitat for Humanity. By adding the ADU, it has become the property that will test the programs viability sometime early next year. Already, two homeowners are under contract to participate in the loan program with a handful of others in the pipeline.

The one-bedroom unit features a kitchen, bathroom and living area, with some storage space and checks in at 576 square feet. The building design, which uses 12-foot-by-12-foot segments, represents a hybrid of manufactured components and traditional on-site construction to reduce the price and attract moderate- and low-income homeowners.

Its still a daunting proposition.

The obstacles of creating these are really high, Martinez-Stone says. (Other) residents fear is that these come in and triple the density of the neighborhood. Theres no way. If that was the situation, the task at hand would be trying to temper that and control that. But the lending markets not there, the building markets not there. Its not going to happen. Its like an untapped opportunity.

Like Denver, Englewood has a history with ADUs.

From the 1920s through the 40s, about 180 of the structures sprouted along alleys, many as soldiers returning from World War II sought solutions to the local housing shortage. In the past several years, Englewood says it began receiving inquiries from citizens interested once again in adding them to their properties.

City officials told them the practice was no longer allowed. But it also began keeping a database of requests.

It was getting really long, says John Voboril, long range senior planner for the city, noting that the list extended to roughly 50 people. Housing prices had gone through the roof, rents too. It started to gain some traction because of those two key elements in the economy. We figured it was time to ask the question.

Voboril says Englewood did extensive community outreach and forums to determine what regulations people would like to see, and how many people would be interested in building. Most of the interested parties, he adds, advanced the usual concerns needing extra cash flow as they neared retirement, or some financial cushion to help them stay in their house as they learned to live on a fixed income. Others were looking to take care of either elderly parents or house somebody younger in family, like an adult son or daughter.

MORE: Its not just Denver: Rural Colorado feeling housing crunch, with more residents spending half their income on a place to live

The resolution of what he terms a very contentious debate was the narrow passage of a new ordinance that allows ADUs but with some significant restrictions. Not only would a homeowner have to inhabit either the ADU or the primary residence and bring it up to code, but ADUs would be limited to 650 square feet of living space.

Voboril calls it the strongest, tightest ADU ordinance in the state.

Thats the only way we could make it happen, he adds.

He notes that the city excluded some zoning districts where there was low demand and decided to start in places with single-family homes closer to downtown and the citys hospital district, older portions of Englewood where ADUs had been built earlier in its history. In hopes of avoiding more controversy, the city decided to see how the process goes there before expanding.

Searfoss, the longtime resident of Englewood, counted herself among the opposition. Not only did she feel that the citys process excluded opponents of the idea, but she also felt that allowing ADUs would trigger extreme issues with trash and traffic. Absentee landlords who didnt monitor their renters also became a concern because, she claims, the city never enforced its code prohibiting ADUs when those were already on the books.

Searfoss also called it ironic that the very people who supposedly needed the ordinance to stay in their homes or take care of relatives would effectively be shut out by its restrictions.

How is this economical for a retired couple to build in their backyard, when they have to bring their home up to code, and then pay a builder? she asks. Its just not the economic boon that it was presented as. Growth is inevitable, I understand that. But this didnt bring Englewood citizens along with growth and development. It left us behind.

Searfoss says she tried to get a repeal of the new ordinance put on the November ballot so citizens could vote on the issue. But family medical issues pulled her away from the effort after shed gathered about 500 of the 762 signatures she needed. Now, she says, the only people likely to benefit are developers who can afford to work around the restrictions.

Schultz, the Denver builder, says the citys hurdles are so much higher than Denvers that hes not getting close to Englewood. He expects that maybe one or two might get built.

But Mike Dickman, who has worked in metro-area real estate for years, recently created a new company for the sole purpose of building ADUs, and he envisions Englewood as a bonanza.

We feel this market is going to be huge, Dickman says. With a nod to the citys history he calls this their back-to-the-future moment.

His Carriage Home Builders will focus on nothing but ADUs and, in a familiar refrain, seek ways to bring costs into an affordable range. He feels that modular housing is the only way to do that and has been working with a manufacturer. Once he has marketing materials in hand, he plans to target one small area of Englewood and make his pitch.

Im one of these old-time guys, Ill go knock on doors, he says. I have no problem with that.

Martinez-Stone, who in addition to her work with the WDRC also serves on the Denver planning board, says she has repeatedly gone on the record in meetings saying that the current method of rezoning for ADUs on a parcel-by-parcel basis is inefficient and ineffective.

We should be doing these by the thousand, she says, especially in areas facing significant displacement. To underscore the urgency, she points to the West Colfax neighborhood. In 2012, the average household paid $75 per month in property tax. Now it pays $235.

All added up, many households with low or fixed income can see on the horizon that they may not be able to afford or keep their home, she says. This provides a solution to that.

The problems may differ among the economic classes, but the possibility that ADUs could become part of the solution has emerged as a common theme across the Denver metro area.

Broomfields city council recently passed an ordinance allowing construction of ADUs, though homeowners associations can still prohibit them. The city also may consider the possibility of offering some sort of subsidy for homeowners who build ADUs and rent them to low-income tenants.

Councilwoman Sharon Tessier says that the free market will never solve the areas housing issue, and neither will any one nonprofit or governmental agency.

Its a partnership that has to happen, she says. ADUs will definitely be part of that, because were able to allow for that in ordinances. My hope is that some of the HOAs will allow it, and it doesnt become so much of a NIMBY issue.

Donna Mullins of Aging Well in Jefferson County, an initiative that began in 2008 and operates under the Human Services department, volunteers with a working group on housing issues that sees ADUs offering an alternative for seniors to age in place. An older person might stay in their home and have a caretaker live in the ADU, or vice versa.

She says Jefferson County had an ordinance on the books for a long time, but it was so restrictive that, in 2011, the group hired an intern to spend a year researching ADUs around the country. That resulted in a set of proposals to the countys planning and zoning people, and less restrictive regulations went into effect in 2014.

There have been 55 applications since the change, compared with 11 in the six years before and, Mullins adds, those numbers dont account for 2019.

The good thing with ADUs is you can use the same infrastructure, so that makes it a little cheaper, she says. You cant build a house for $250,000 around here.

As they look south from the second-floor flat behind their house to a slice of the Denver skyline, Price and Horner, the couple with the ADU in Curtis Park, realize that one day a neighbor could build a similar structure and take that view away. They shrug. Thats life in the city.

We cant grow out anymore, Price says, shaking his head at city dwellers who complain that filling in the holes will ruin the neighborhood. Sure, theres too much traffic, but its not because there are too many people. There are too many cars.

Horner calls concerns about density an irrational fear born of misconception.

Unless we encourage this, the city wont be able to be as livable, he says. Its gonna happen.

This reporting is made possible by our members. You can directly support independent watchdog journalism in Colorado for as little as $5 a month. Start here: coloradosun.com/join

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Colorado cities want to embrace gentle density of granny flats, but they're hitting speed bumps - The Colorado Sun

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