Source: Orange County Register & San Jose Mercury
... In recent years, the state of California has seen an explosion in ADUs, also known as mother-in-law units or backyard cottages. In 2023, one out of every five homes built in the state was an ADU, according to recently released state data. Only three years ago, they represented just one in every 10 new units.
... Since 2017, the California state Legislature has passed several bills lowering the ADU building barriers. Most notably, AB 68, authored by San Francisco Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting and passed in 2019, sped up the approval process from 120 days to 60 and prohibited local officials from imposing requirements around lot size and parking.
... “Our biggest challenge in California is that so much of our zoning is for single-family homes, which makes it next to impossible to build any new housing,” Ting said in an interview. “This is the one housing product that you can actually build in these single-family neighborhoods.”