Chicago may adopt a pro-ADU policy

Why should City electeds re-allow coach houses and ADUs?

Accessory dwelling units have a quintuple bottom line:

• Increase the supply of affordable housing, and can act as a stepping stone for new residents before they move to a larger apartment or buy a property of their own
• Generate income for homeowners (this could also happen now with minor adjustments to the zoning map so people can build out basement units)
• Support aging in place — ADUs and Junior ADUs give families flexibility to share property and living spaces with extended family members
• Create new work for small and local architects and contractors
• Boost local business support by restoring a neighborhood’s historical density

Once City Council adopts the next 5-year housing plan (which could happen this month or next) the new Chicago Department of Housing or an alder or two will have to introduce legislation that legalizes and regulates ADUs.

Why should the public support ADUs?

Some people already do! Over the last several months Chicago Cityscape has been collecting responses from people using this form to understand why coach houses are integral to supporting diversity in housing stock and housing prices in Chicago’s neighborhoods.

People wrote to us about their personal coach house living experience:

• “When I moved back to Chicago after spending a year in another city, I rented a small room in a rear coach house in Bucktown for $300 per month. As an unemployed person seeking work, this was the most ideal arrangement I could be in while reentering the workforce and readjusting to life in Chicago.”
• “My wife and I are Chicago property owners since 2004. We have four kids. I am a real estate broker and my wife is a hospital nursing director. We lived in a coach house unit in 2003 while saving for a condo. We paid $825.00 in rent. There was a two-flat in front and the coach house was two units.”
• “We own a two-flat in Logan square with a concrete pad in the back. We are holding off on building a garage because we’d really like to put a coach house above the garage.”

And they wrote us about why they would like to build an ADU:

• “To provide more low-density housing in my neighborhood while also having the potential to improve my property and make additional income.”
• “We would love to build a coach house unit on our single family house property in Lincoln Square. With a large family it would allow us extra income, guest quarters, or a separate space for a nanny. We have a 30'x150' lot [44% larger than a standard city lot] with lots of space for an extra residential unit. Downzoning and two and three-flat deconversions have hurt the socioeconomic diversity of Lincoln Square. Coach houses would allow larger families use of the main house and affordable rentals in the coach house on a single city lot. I think it’s ridiculous to legally build a double-lot single-family house that three or four people barely live in but not possible to build a studio apartment over my garage.”
• “Extra income and increasing housing options in the neighborhood. We may use it if our parents move in when they get older.”

Tell your alder you support restoring gentle density in your neighborhood by allowing homeowners to build income-generating affordable housing on their properties. Look up your alder’s name using Address Snapshot.

Which officials and candidates support ADUs?

The list has moved to its own post.