According to the American Planning Association, ADUs are smaller, independent residential units on the same lot as a single-family home. Also called granny flats or in-law apartments, they can be small new stand-alone structures, converted garages, or other uses.
“We believe that allowing ADUs is aligned with the city’s housing policy and best practices in city planning,” said Tony Kroeger, Dayton’s planning division manager. “ADUs increase flexibility in housing options, facilitate aging-in-place and can enhance affordability. They are certainly not a silver bullet by any means, but are a piece of a large and complex housing puzzle.”
Two new ADUs
Earlier this week, the Dayton Board of Zoning Appeals approved two requests to build ADUs at properties on the 1100 block of West Second Street and the 200 block of Santa Clara Avenue.
Dayton officials say these were the first applications for ADUs the city received this year. The Board of Zoning Appeals approved requests for ADUs at five locations across the city in 2022 and 2023.
Developer G.F. Bailey plans to build a new home on West Third Street in the Wolf Creek neighborhood that has a detached backyard structure with a bedroom, bathroom, living room and a kitchen and laundry area.
A growing number of households are multigenerational, and some adults live with their kids and their aging parents, said Tim Forbess, principal with G.F. Bailey.
ADUs can be a good housing option for the grandparents in these living situations, who help take care of their grandchildren, often while the parents are working, Forbess said. ADUs can provide independent living spaces.
Forbess estimated that he thinks roughly a quarter of the housing that G.F. Bailey will construct next year will have ADUs.
“We will be incorporating multigenerational builds into our strategic plan,” he said. “It’s a part of the market that we think is very important.”
Benefits of ADUs
ADUs can help grow the housing supply, increase property values and provide more versatile residential options, said Ellen Sizer, a city planner.
“This would not disrupt the prevailing or existing character (of the area) — it would actually add to it and aid to the diversifying of the housing stock,” Sizer said about the ADU proposed for the Wolf Creek property.
ADUs are widely viewed as a good way to create more affordable housing and increase housing density. The Dayton region has a shortage of quality housing that is affordable to low-income residents. Many local leaders say Dayton needs more housing of all types.
ADUs are popular in places that have extremely high housing costs, like California, Oregon and other communities on the coasts.
They also tend to be popular among older segments of the population as many seniors want to downsize and don’t want or need a ton of space.
By 2035, adults 65 and older will outnumber children for the first time in U.S. history, says AARP Ohio. The organization says one out of every five people in Ohio will be 65 or older within the next decade.
AARP Ohio says it supports revising zoning laws in cities across the state to allow ADUs.
Dayton changes
Dayton changed its zoning code in February 2022 to make it easier to create ADUs.
Previously, the zoning code did not permit these types of units, and community members had to get use variance approval to create them. Now, ADUs are a conditional use, which is a lower standard to meet but still requires Board of Zoning Appeals approval.
But city staff have drafted zoning code revisions and updates that include changing ADUs from a conditional use to a permitted use, said Kroeger, the planning division manager.
In Dayton, ADUs can be permitted in all residential zoning districts where there is a detached single-family home, Kroeger said.
Kroeger said Dayton’s zoning code changes likely will head to the Plan Board for consideration later this year. The city commission must approve any changes.
Cincinnati became the first city in Ohio to legalize ADUs in June 2023. Supporters said they believed this change would help build new housing.
Cincinnati, however, only received four permit applications to build ADUs from June 2023 to July 2024, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Amy Riegel, executive director of the Coalition on Housing and Homelessness in Ohio, said ADUs are especially helpful in communities that are landlocked and in places that aren’t seeing or permitting large multifamily housing developments.
Riegel said ADUs allow for a “gentle” increase in housing density. She said they add new places to live without significantly impacting the fabric of the community.
ADUs also can attract college students and younger people who are just starting their careers and who may be moving to a new community, she said.
Riegel said she thinks ADUs will become increasingly popular in part because it will give homeowners a way to offset the cost of their homes.
She said the cost of housing is increasing in virtually every way — including home prices, rents, borrowing costs, taxes, insurance premiums and home repair expenses.
Riegel said it might be a good idea for communities to host workshops and public events to educate people about ADUs so they can visualize what’s possible and how this type of housing could benefit them.
“I think people are going to need a little bit of an HGTV inspiration in order to get there,” she said.
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