Habitat for Humanity begins ‘blitz’ in San Gabriel Valley ADU – San Gabriel Valley Tribune

As California grapples with its ongoing housing crisis, a local nonprofit is taking a different approach to tackling the problem on a smaller scale.

San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity worked with the city of Baldwin Park to build an addition in 10 days. The 999-square-foot, three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in the backyard of a 5,300-square-foot lot was completed last week.

Baldwin Park Mayor Emmanuel Estrada said the city has a longstanding partnership with Habitat. He said it benefits the city by taking much of the burden off city staff, providing affordable housing and income to homeowners, who can then rent out the small units — known as ADUs.

“It helps everybody,” Estrada said. “It’s just a win all around.”

It’s the second ADU Habitat for Humanity has helped build in recent years, but it won’t be the last, said Bryan Wong, CEO of San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity. More than 300 volunteers helped with the project, which was called a 10-day “blitz.”

“The reason we wanted to do it in 10 days was to show that when cities get behind the programs – and many cities are supporting these ADU programs – it doesn’t have to be a one- or two-year process,” Wong said.

The ADU program builds on Habitat’s longstanding core mission of building affordable housing through partnerships with volunteers and local communities.

He said the goal is to build another 20 ADUs in the San Gabriel Valley over the next 12 months as part of an ADU program that offers 0% interest construction loans to homeowners who meet income requirements.

As part of the loan agreement, the homeowner promises to keep the rent affordable, Wong said.

To qualify, an individual must own a single-family home as their sole residence for the past three years, have their mortgage, property taxes and homeowners insurance current, have no outstanding collections, charge-offs or foreclosures in the past seven years and have a minimum FICO credit score of 620, according to Habitat.

Additionally, maximum household income limits vary based on household size. The maximum for a one-person household is $70,650, and for a five-person household, the maximum is $109,000. Interested homeowners can apply for the program at sgvhabitat.org.

According to the Department of Housing and Community Development, the number of local ADU ordinances in the state has increased exponentially.

Since the first statewide ADU law was passed in 2017, local ordinances in Los Angeles County have followed suit, leading to a surge in the number of ADUs, sometimes called “granny flats,” being built.

LA County passed the first local ordinance codifying the 2017 state law in 2019. That year, the county approved 932 ADUs to be built in unincorporated areas, and ADUs made up 46% of the permitted housing units.

Zoe Axelrod, a senior regional planner with the Los Angeles County Department of Regional Planning, said changes in state law almost every year since then have made it “easier and easier” to build ADUs.

Aside from a slight decline from 2020 and 2021, the total number of homes approved by the planning department has increased since 2019, with 1,500 approved in 2023, the province said.

“We expect this number to continue to grow,” Axelrod said.

She said changes in state law provide the opportunity to maximize single-family zoning, which covers more than half of the region.

For example, State Senate Bill 9, which passed in 2021, did not change ADU law, but it did provide more flexibility on lots zoned for single-family homes. Two single-family homes are allowed on a single lot, with or without subdivision of the lot, Axelrod said.

“It’s a significant piece of land where there’s now the opportunity to add more homes, where before you might have just had one lot and one house,” Axelrod said.

LA County ordinances do not apply to incorporated cities. These cities each have their own rules regarding ADUs.

According to Axelrod, some communities have expressed concerns about ADUs attracting new people to a neighborhood.

For example, Whittier city officials have criticized laws like SB 9, saying the law would create building lots “that are significantly smaller and not consistent with the community character of several communities.”

They also argued that SB 9 poses a threat to public health and safety because it requires “cities to approve additional dwelling units in locations and manners that are not in harmony with the character of the community and could create parking, congestion, and noise problems in communities otherwise zoned to avoid precisely those problems.”

However, Axelrod noted that ADUs are often used by family members of homeowners and can easily be integrated into the neighborhood.

Habitat has partnered with Baldwin Park, the San Gabriel Valley Regional Housing Trust and the state to provide 0% interest loans and has approximately $3 million available for future ADU projects.