Mayor London Breed announced plans to spur accessory dwelling units (ADUs, also known as in-law units) and 100 percent affordable housing development by dropping Department of Building Inspection permitting fees for those types of projects.
The mayor’s office estimates that permitting fees can make up 7.8 percent of total project costs for ADUs, and 100 percent affordable housing projects can incur fees of $100,000 to $150,000. In a statement, the mayor’s office said that waving the fees “could help ease the financial burden, particularly for single-family residences that typically finance ADU construction through loans or the use of their savings.”
“We need to break down barriers to building housing,” said Breed. “That includes eliminating fees that might prevent a small building owner from adding an extra unit to their home. We need to encourage property owners to add in-laws, not add burdens that prevent them from coming forward and prevent us from adding new homes to our neighborhoods. Cutting fees for affordable housing projects also makes sense as we try to make every dollar count in the construction of new housing, especially when city funds are being used to help finance these projects.
“We can absorb the loss of these fees, but we cannot absorb the loss of new housing in our city.”
News tips? Email: [email protected]
