I attended the Housing Land Advocates Conference in Portland last week and presented on what happened to microhouisng. Microhousing is a new thing in Portland. My presentation had to highlight the fact that Seattle pretty much has closed down the microhousing product; some will still get built here, but not as many as before. But there is some good news coming out of Oregon about Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs or what we call Detached Accessory Dwelling Units DADUs in Seattle) in single-family neighborhoods. Oregon’s Department of Environmental Quality is aggressively promoting ADU’s all over Oregon. Here’s a map that tracks the growth of ADUs over the last 15 years.

The DEQ has organized resources for homeowners wanting to build and ADU. Their website is a treasure trove of information for prospective homeowners, including the video on financing ADUs that I have embedded above. Here’s what you can find on their website.

Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Resources

• Finance Guide for ADUs
• ADU Survey Evaluation Report for Portland ADU Owners
• ADU Survey Results for Portland, Eugene, and Ashland, Oregon
• Guide to Appraising ADUs
  produced jointly by DEQ, AccessoryDwellings.org, and Earth Advantage
• Accessory Dwelling Units – Take the First Step
  View a short video that explains the benefits and flexibility that ADUs can add to your property.
• ADU Zoning Code Matrix

My co-presenter on the panel,  Jordan Palmeri, pointed out the environmental, economic benefits of ADUs. They also don’t really create parking problems either (you can see his entire presentation here).

That is good to know, because similar efforts to promote ADUs in Seattle are sure to face resistance similar to what small-lot housing ran into earlier this year. People worry about change — and parking. If efforts ever do come together in Seattle to promote DADUs we have a lot to learn from Oregon. But we’ll have to find the political courage to resist neighbors who don’t want things to change as more people move into the neighborhood.