California’s Granny Flat Boom Isn’t Filling the Affordable Housing Gap

More than 20,000 accessory dwelling units were built last year, but half of them rent for more than a low-income household could pay.

An accessory dwelling unit in Costa Mesa, Calif., on Nov. 30, 2023. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

The construction of so-called granny flats—known as accessory dwelling units, or ADUs—has increased from just 1 percent of California’s new permitted construction in 2016 to one in every five new homes last year, according to recent data.

Nearly 23,000 ADUs were built last year, according to the state Department of Finance, increasing California’s total by 10 percent.