As the California ADU laws implemented in January 2020 continue to make it even easier for homeowners to build accessory dwelling units, the nonprofit, government, and industry sectors are thinking innovatively about how we can maximize the impact of those laws to even better serve our communities.
One such nonprofit, Build it Green, recently launched a number of webinars designed to help all of us think deeply about how accessory dwelling units can help create sustainable homes and thriving neighborhoods for more Californians.
The organization explains, “Build it Green has been working with our community to identify new ways to catalyze the building culture toward regenerative design and development. In taking a systemic approach, we saw ADU’s as the right unit of scale to explore the intersection of finance, policy, building materials, community and workforce development, and bioregional revitalization.
To deepen our understanding, and untangle some of the barriers to widespread adoption of ADUs, we are bringing together stakeholders and innovators across the field for our Fall Forums.”
The Fall Forum will feature the Napa Sonoma ADU Center moderating several stakeholders in the ADU field in a free webinar on Wednesday, December 2, focused on “Owning and Renting ADUs” (register here).
And there are many, many more ADU topics covered; a full roster is available here and all past webinar recordings are available here. In particular, you may be interested in their series on the topic of regenerative development and design.
Here’s a little more on the nonprofit’s approach to ADUs:
“Grounded in inclusivity, community engagement and collaboration, we are delving into possibilities at different scales – from smaller homes known as accessory dwelling units to whole neighborhoods. We believe that ADUs and regenerative neighborhood development may be key nodes to achieving major progress in health and well-being at the personal, community and bioregional realms.
This new direction isn’t about creating a generic menu of design or policy choices that could be layered onto any neighborhood. It’s about bringing forth new ideas. We encourage neighborhood residents, community groups, city officials, developers, and others to join us in this process.”
The Napa Sonoma ADU Center knows that it is only through collaborating with diverse stakeholders across multiple sectors — nonprofit, business, industry, government, and others — that together we can help homeowners effectively build accessory dwelling units as a part of the solution to increase housing availability in our community. We hope you enjoy checking out the work that Build It Green is doing to advance this cause in a thoughtful and nuanced manner!