Applying the Form-Based Code to ADU's

While not specifically described as a form-based code, Santa Cruz and other cities like Portland already address the potential nuisance impacts from additional dwelling unit density in residential neighborhoods.

Instead of legislating how the structures can be used (although they do that too), perhaps a more effective method is to regulate the structure.

For example, Portland requires a 60' minimum front yard setback (to ensure that the ADU is built in the rear and does not dominate the facade of the single-family dwelling), limits the max lot coverage of an accessory structure to 15% of the total lot size (for a 5,000 sq ft lot, that would be a max 750 sq ft ADU), limits the ADU floor area to max 75% of the main house, and limits ADU max height to 18'.

These may or may not be desirable in Honolulu, but what these rules attempt to do, is mitigate the physical impact vis a vis the visual appearance that ADU's might have on a neighborhood.

Santa Cruz's ADU manual has extensive graphic and textual descriptions of ADU design and siting, according to neighborhood character (post-war, traditional, transitional) and detached/attached unit configuration. While it includes notes to remind the designer to orient windows away from neighbors (if the ADU will be close to the property line). Some comments seem to be guidelines for consideration (ie. My favorite: "Of course an important part of being a good neighbor is discussing your plans with adjacent property owners."), other features are requirements.

Santa Cruz County vs City of Santa Cruz

OK so this might have been obvious to some of you, but apparently the City of Santa Cruz is not the same as the County of Santa Cruz.

Both allow Accessory Dwelling Units, but they have slightly different requirements. 

Santa Cruz, San Francisco vs Honolulu: the Unaffordable housing ctisis

So how do other municipalities struggling with unaffordable home prices, approach housing policy and deal with regulations and land use?

They look for ways to increase the supply of housing units.
I compare Honolulu to Santa Cruz on the basis of 1) high price of real estate and 2) high housing ratios: median house price divided by gross
annual median household income (also called the price to income ratio). 

As of September 2011: Median home price was $672,500 in San Francisco and $570,000 in both Santa Cruz and Honolulu and in 2010, the Price to Income Ratio (or Median Multiple) was 7.2 in Santa Cruz and San Francisco vs 8.5 for Honolulu. For Honolulu, homes cost 8.5 times more than the gross annual income for an entire household. Per the Demographia Report, Honolulu has the highest median multiple of any city in the US. San Francisco and Santa Cruz tied as the 2nd most unaffordable US cities, with a Median Multiple of 7.2 each.

What the data shows is what we already know -- San Francisco pays workers on average more while housing costs less than Honolulu.

A median multiple of 3.0 or less is considered affordable. 5.1 and over is considered severely unaffordable. Or to get technical: this Median Multiple is: median house price divided by gross annual median household income. According to Demographia, the Honolulu median household income in 2010 was $68,200 and the median home price was $576,600. If you divide these numbers you get 8.5: the Median Multiple.

How the County of Santa Cruz addresses housing affordability can be found in their General Plan Housing Element. Recently discovered: County of Santa Cruz's estimate on the potential number of Accessory Dwellings or 2nd Units.

 

Instead of identifying specific properties, they limited their analysis to regions and used factors (ie. simple percentages). What the report doesn't quantify is the number of illegal units built -- ie. properties that have a 2nd unit but did not apply for a 2nd unit permit. But considering that Santa Cruz Housing Element states that they will be looking into ways of legalizing non permitted units, i suspect they are well aware of the problem. (see previous blog post on Santa Cruz affordability and rent restrictions)

References:

• Demographia's 2011 International Housing Affordability Survey
• Santa Cruz County Association of Realtors: http://www.scaor.org/marketstatistics.php
• Honolulu Board of Realtors - Sept Statistics: http://hicentral.com/pdfs/HBR.NRWeb.0911Stats.pdf

What do you do when Housing is Unaffordable? SHARED SPACES!

Demographia's 2011 International Housing Affordability Survey*:

"Among all [US] markets, Honolulu was the least affordable market, with a Median Multiple of 8.5, while Santa Cruz (CA) had a Median Multiple of 7.2."

These results reinforce the need for legalization of Accessory Dwellings Units in Honolulu, similar to what was done in Santa Cruz's (award winning) ADU Program. As part of their program to ease housing affordability, they loosened regulations, publicized the permit process and provided city financing to create Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU's). However, this was only one step of several recommendations made in their 2002 Housing Study.

Many of the recommendations in that Housing Study would require significant research before they can be applied to Honolulu. However, ADU's are readily achievable because their impact is minimal and in the absence of a legal alternative, people are building recreation rooms and renting them illegally.

A key question that emerges from this research is WHAT NEXT? What else can we do as a community to improve housing affordability? Are urban densification and high-rises our only options? New Jersey is one of the densest areas in the Unites States, yet, is not covered in skyscrapers. How might Tokyo's idea of shared spaces open the door to alternatives? 

*NOTE: Regarding the Demographia Survey, (I think) due largely to language barriers and data collection constraints, only the following countries are included in the survey: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States, and China (Hong Kong). Also, the survey does rank/compare the major metropolitan areas (greater than 1 Million people); Honolulu does not rank in that listing because we are NOT a "major metro area" - as defined by Demographia. However, in the comprehensive listing across all metro areas surveyed, we are #7 internationally, but #1 amongst cities in the US.

It's also important to remember that compared to other cities, Hawaii has a significantly higher rate of doubling-up. That is there are more people per bedroom; multigenerational families are commonplace. The state of Hawaii formed a joint legislative task force to study how we can reduce barriers to support aging-in-place and specifically, multigenerational housing.

Also, while Hawaii has higher average housing prices, we also have lower wages -- for the same job -- as compared to the mainland US. (Except if you work for the federal gov't. I've heard anecdotally that you will receive a higher COLA, cost of living allowance, in Hawaii vs elsewhere.)