Eli Spevak, Founder, Orange Splot, LLC shares his ideas about Missing Middle Housing

1. Omaha, NE November 14, 2019
Eli Spevak, Orange Splot LLC
(Re) Introducing ...
Petite, Discreet and Affordable Homes
for Today’s Smaller Households

2. • ¾ people 50+ want
to stay in homes
and communities
• Homesharing on
the rise, up from 2-16%
• 1/3 homeowners interested in building
ADUs for help, income, and
companionship Available at
https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/community/info-
2018/2018-home-community-preference.html
What DO older adults want?

3. Young people need housing too

4. Inspirations
Author, Illustrator and Inspiration: Daniel Pinkwater

5. Historic Precedents

6. Where I’ve Lived

7. Pop Culture
Terms of Endearment
Melrose Place
123 Sesame Street

8. Quaint little LEED Platinum
homes

9. “Missing Middle” Housing Types
For Traditional, Walkable Neighborhoods

10. Row Homes
James Borchert’s “Alley Life
in Washington, DC”
Mason St. Townhomes

11. Courtyard Clusters

12. Courtyard Clusters

13. Courtyard Clusters: Cohousing

14. Courtyard Clusters: Cohousing

15. Duplex, Corner Lot

16. Duplex – Side-by-Side and Up-Down

17. Internally Divided Larger Homes

18. Accessory Dwelling Units
Caleb & Tori Bruce’s main house -> ADU
Jefferson’s house while Monticello was getting
built (Lester Walker, A Little House of My Own)
Sabin Green ADU by Orange Splot LLC

19. Accessory Dwelling Units
Bruce and Carolyn Nelson’s detached ADU
Derin & Andra Williams’ basement ADUGranger House internal ADU

20. Detached Bedrooms
Ruth’s Cottages (Orange Splot LLC)

21. Tiny Homes
Wagons on the trail!
Families living out of covered wagons Lina Menard’s “Lucky Penny”

22. Tiny Homes
Built by Orange Splot LLCBoneyard Collective in Washington, DC
Dee Williams and her tiny house
Caravan: The Tiny House Hotel

23. Tiny Homes: Community by Necessity

24. Bringing Back the Boarding House!
The Farmhouse
Euclid Manor

25. Boarding House
Flora & Ulysses (by Orange Splot LLC)
The Forge

26. (Re) Introducing the ADU

27. Famous ADU dwellers

28. Above Mr. Cunningham’s garage
In the front yard setback
(not allowed in most juridictions)
In the atticIn the basement
Jefferson’s house while Monticello
was getting built

29. Who lives in ADUs?
From Jordan Palmeri, Oregon DEQ

30. Too many names!
Carriage House
Granny Flat
In-law Suite
Mother-in-law Flat
Sidekick
Laneway House
Backyard Cottage
Garden Suite
Secondary Dwelling Unit (SDU)
Tiny House
Basement Apartment
Next Gen
Grand Retreat
Ancillary Unit
Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)

31. Photo: City of Santa Cruz
What’s an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)?
An accessory dwelling unit (ADU) is a second dwelling unit on
a single family residential lot.

32. Why so much interest in ADUs?

33. 1. Lack of Housing Choice

34. 2. Familiarity & Acceptance (A long
standing American Tradition)
Chicago, IL coach house
Evanston, IL coach house

35. 3. Adaptibility: Flexible for All Stages of
Life; Short & Long term uses
35
Bruce and Carolyn Nelson’s detached ADU

36. 4. Multi-Generational Housing
Lesa Dixon-Gray’s mom Shirley
(from Lina Menard’s post in www.accessorydwellings.org)
Kavita Daswani, LA Times
Sandra Keenan, NYT
Laure Joliet, NYT

37. 5. Demographics: Smaller Homes for
Smaller Households
Source: City of Milwaukie and URBSWORKS
1 person
16%
2 persons
31%
3+ persons
53%
Share of Households by Size, 1960
State of Oregon
1 person
19%
2 persons
33%
3+ persons
48%
Share of Households by Size, 1970
State of Oregon
1 person
23%
2 persons
35%
3+ persons
42%
Share of Households by Size, 1980
State of Oregon
1 person
25%
2 persons
36%
3+ persons
39%
Share of Households by Size, 1990
State of Oregon
1 person
26%
2 persons
36%
3+ persons
38%
Share of Households by Size, 2000
State of Oregon
1 person
27%
2 persons
36%
3+ persons
37%
Share of Households by Size, 2010
State of Oregon

38. 6. Environmental Benefits of Small Homes
~80%~15%
2011 Study by Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
From Jordan Palmeri, Oregon DEQ

39. 7. Affordability
From Jordan Palmeri, Oregon DEQ

40. 8. Great niche for small/emerging
contractors and architects

41. 9. Politically Palatable: Discreet Density &
Disbursed Impact
10. Property rights: Why shouldn’t I be allowed
to build one?
11. Aging in Place without leaving the
neighborhood
A few more reasons to support ADUs

42. Sample
Rules for
ADUs

43. Even with
supportive
regulations, not a
lot of ADUs get
built because…

44. Who Builds ADUs?
Amateur homeowner developers

45. OrangeSplot.net
Eli Spevak
eli@orangesplot.net

46. Bonus Slides

47. Portland’s ADU Story
Re:PDX.com blog post

48. Portland’s ADU History
ADUs permitted per year & Applicable Regulations
0"
100"
200"
300"
400"
500"
600"
700"
1991"1992"1993"1994"1995"1996"1997"1998"1999"2000"2001"2002"2003"2004"2005"2006"2007"2008"2009"2010"2011"2012"2013"2014"2015"2016"2017"2018"
1996 - 2009
ALLOWED
BY RIGHT
NO OFF
STREET
PARKING
NO
MINIMUM
LOT SIZE
SIZE CAP:
PRIMARY
HOUSE
“A”
OVERLAY
ZONE
ONLY
INTERNAL
CONVERSION
ONLY
OWNER
OCCUPANCY
DESIGN
COMPATIBILITY
ALLOWED
CITY-WIDE
TYPES:
INTERNAL
ADDITIONS
DETACHED
CAN
RENT
BOTH
UNITS
IMPACT
FEES
50%
SIZE CAP
33% / 800SF
ADU Blast Off ??

49. Portland’s ADU History
ADUs permitted per year & Applicable Regulations
0"
100"
200"
300"
400"
500"
600"
700"
1991"1992"1993"1994"1995"1996"1997"1998"1999"2000"2001"2002"2003"2004"2005"2006"2007"2008"2009"2010"2011"2012"2013"2014"2015"2016"2017"2018"
2015 - 2016
ALLOWED
BY RIGHT
NO OFF
STREET
PARKING
NO
MINIMUM
LOT SIZE
DESIGN
COMPATIBILITY
ALLOWED
CITY-WIDE
TYPES:
INTERNAL
ADDITIONS
DETACHED
CAN
RENT
BOTH
UNITS
IMPACT
FEES
50%
SIZE CAP
75% / 800SF
IMPACT
FEES
WAIVED
DESIGN
COMPATIBILITY

50. What’s New with ADUs?

51. 1. New Financial Products and
Appraisal Guidelines

52. 2. Cost saving strategies:
Inexpensive, production models

53. Prefabricated ADUs

54. Dweller Wolf Tiny Homes
Shelter Solutions

55. 3. Separating ownership to
create affordable starter homes
Sabin Green
Woodstock Gardens
Applewood Corner Everett Custom homes ADU
Waterlily Homes (Austin, TX)
Waterlily Homes (Austin, TX)

56. Sabin Green

57. Applewood Corner Condo

58. Applewood Corner

59. 4. Affordable ADU Pilots
West Denver,
CO

60. Los Angeles, CA

61. Silicon Valley in CA

62. 5. Supportive Regulations at the
City, Regional and State level
State ADU
Mandates
• Oregon
• Washington
• New Hampshire
• California
• Vermont
• Washington, DC
Regional ADU
Initiatives
• Chicago area
• Bay Area, CA
• Boston area
• Atlanta area
• Washington, DC area

63. More cities allow both an internal
and detached ADU
• Vancouver, BC
• Tigard, OR
• Seattle, WA
• Sonoma County, CA
• Fayetteville, AR
Cities welcome ADUs
Cities (and some entire states) drop
owner-occupancy and off street parking
requirements

64. 19,000+ incorporated
jurisdictions in the US, each
with their own zoning code!
But still a long way to go...

65. 5. Rethinking Single Family Zoning
• 2018: Minneapolis updated its
comprehensive plan to allow three-
family homes on any residential lot
• 2019: Oregon passed HB 2001,
which requires all cities over a certain
size to allow duplexes, triplexes,
fourplexes and/or cottages clusters in
all residential zones

66. Additional Resources

67. AccessoryDwellings.org
Includes:
•Case studies
•Videos
•Tour info
•Zoning code
•Appraisal guide
•Financing guide
•Research

68. Making the case for a more diverse housing stock

69. www.orangesplot.net/rese
arch/
Accessory
Dwelling Units
Internal Home
Conversions
Cottage
Clusters
Corner
Duplexes

70. Zoning Codes: The ADU Spectrum
• Pre-existing ADUs cease to be legal if not
continuously occupied
• Pre-existing ADUs are allowed, but no new
ones
• New ADUs are allowed, but closely regulated
• New ADUs encouraged, sometimes 2x lot

71. Portland’s Residential Infill Project
(RIP)
HOUSINGOPTI
6. Allow small flag lots through property line adjustments (R5 and R2.5 zones).
a. Require that the existing house be retained and exempt from FAR limits at the time of the property
line adjustment review.
b. In the R5 zone, limit the height of the house on the flag lot to 20 feet, limit its size to 1,000 square
feet and require additional exterior design elements.
7. Continue to allow different building forms and site arrangements through a planned
development review (R7, R5, and R2.5 zones). Align density allowances and review procedure
thresholds between planned developments and land divisions.
House + ADU
House + 2 ADUs
Duplex
Duplex + ADU
Triplex
Fourplex
1

72. Vermont
(2005)

73. California