Best Practices in Advancing Accessory Dwelling Unit Production

Family Housing Fund and NeighborWorks Home Partners have examined Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in recent years to understand and amplify their potential for helping Twin Cities communities meet their housing needs. While many municipalities in the Twin Cities region have changed zoning code to allow ADUs in recent years, ADU development has been slow. Together, NeighborWorks Home Partners and FHFund contracted with ECONorthwest to investigate the opportunities and challenges to building ADUs in the Twin Cities.

This report introduces the benefits of ADUs, explores national best practices in supporting permitting and development of ADUs, explores navigator models, and summarizes findings from local focus group meetings to determine the structure and feasibility of a navigator model for the Twin Cities region.