The Coalition for an Accessible and Resilient Edmonds (CARE) has launched a resource hub to provide Edmonds community members with information about accessory dwelling units (ADUs.) In addition, the hub includes a video story — Janet’s Tiny Home— produced by CARE.
According to a CARE news release announcing the resource hub:
Regional demand for housing has greatly exceeded regional supply growth over the last two decades. In this time, housing costs across Edmonds have grown at unprecedented rates. Housing unaffordability has put pressure on many members of our community, across every stage of life.
– In the Edmonds School District service area (Edmonds, Lynnwood and Mountlake Terrace), 52% of all renting households – including 70% of households led by those 65 years or older – pay more than 30% of their income toward rent and qualify as “rent-burdened” by federal standards.
– In this same service area, the median household income required to afford the purchase of a detached, or single-family, home ($207,812) grew by nearly 75% from 2000 to 2023, while median household income grew by just 15% over the same period. (Both figures are adjusted for inflation; all numbers come from the Alliance for Housing Affordability.)
“ADUs are small, but mighty: affordable, flexible homes that will provide more choice and opportunity for members of our community,” said Mackey Guenther, CARE’s executive director. “Edmonds residents have long demonstrated their desire for more attainable housing options, and ADUs fit the bill – literally. ADUs alone will not resolve our housing affordability crisis, but they have an important role to play in returning housing attainability to the levels that enabled so many people in our city’s history to build good lives in Edmonds.”
CARE’s ADU resource hub also premieres Janet’s Tiny Home,which tells the story of Janet Good and her son Fred as they embark on the creation of her backyard cottage in the unincorporated Esperance neighborhood. After her husband passed, Janet needed a more affordable place to live. Fred built her a backyard cottage on his lot in Esperance. Picking up on Fred’s 2021 letter to the editor in My Edmonds News, Janet’s Tiny Home showcases the transformative benefits of an ADU for the Good family: cross-generational connection, resilience and cost savings.
As Edmonds updates its ADU code to reflect 2021 Citizen’s Housing Commission recommendations, as well as the requirements of House Bill 1337, CARE said it is committed to providing community members with guidance on their ADU journey. The CARE ADU hub will soon be updated with a free tool that enables residents to evaluate ADU options for their property – including zoning constraints, cost estimation and local builders. Interested parties can sign up on the website to be notified when this tool is available.
Learn more about CARE here.