ADUs Become Key Tool to Addressing California's Housing Shortage
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Recent California housing reforms are creating new opportunities to change how housing gets built.
For decades, boosting supply has required buying more land or starting major development projects. But SB 1211 has changed that by allowing for the addition of up to eight ADUs to multifamily properties, giving multifamily owners a practical way to bring more supply to the market and create value from land they already own.
The law first took effect Jan. 1, 2025, and is already shaping densification strategies statewide. It eliminates parking-replacement requirements, making surface lots and carports prime locations for new buildable units.
One example is Samara, which constructs ADUs offsite and installs them in underutilized pockets of existing properties, thereby shortening the construction timeline and minimizing disruptions to existing residents.
More broadly, ADUs are being deployed as an effective tool to address California's housing shortage and legislation like SB 1211 continues to expand where and how they can be deployed. Prometheus is teaming up with Samara to add eight ADUs to its Madrone multifamily property.
"Prometheus' Madrone was a strong fit because it's a garden-style community with available space in a desirable location," Mike McNamara, co-founder and CEO of Samara, told GlobeSt.com.
Prometheus already owns the land for this existing 272-unit community in Mountain View and is installing ADUs through a repeatable model.
This will help Santa Clara County hit its goals, which needs more than 120,000 new homes by 2031 to house its current residents and accommodate even modest growth.
Ian Rogers, vice president of asset management at Prometheus, said in a release that the installations will "stay true to its design standards" and this effort "checks all the boxes for us as smart business" that benefits its residents.
The modular floor plans range from 420 to 950 square feet and from studios to two-bedroom, two-bath homes, allowing flexibility across different property types.
Another developer, GatherADU, has completed 127 ADU projects in Los Angeles County.
Source: GlobeSt/ALM