The City of Tempe, Arizona, is embarking on an innovative approach to tackle housing affordability and sustainability through its Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Design Challenge, a venture recently bolstered by a $20,000 grant from the AARP Community Challenge. In a move that underscores the city's commitment to creative urban planning, this challenge seeks to invite architects and designers to freely submit practical, code-compliant ADU designs for city homeowners looking to expand their property capacity.
With the AARP grant, Tempe aims to not only just augment its housing supply but also to streamline the process of creating ADUs, commonly known as casitas, that serve as secondary, smaller homes on the same property as the main residence. "We are incredibly honored and excited that AARP selected Tempe for this generous investment," Mayor Corey Woods told Tempe News. His sentiment reflects the city’s initiative to make it financially viable for residents to build ADUs by easing associated fees and expediting the permitting process.
In a forward-looking move, the Tempe City Council took a leap earlier this year by waiving more than $2,000 in initial plan review fees for the first 10 ADU designs chosen through this challenge. The selected plans will not only be annexed into the city's Standard Plan Library, thereby reducing pre-construction expenses for would-be builders but are also poised to navigate the permitting process much faster.
The initiative underscores a broader strategy to foster an environment that supports aging in place, multigenerational living, and offers opportunities for additional rental income. By essentially creating a library of pre-approved ADU designs, homeowners could save upward of $5,000 in design and plan review costs. It represents a substantial step in Tempe’s continued effort to deliberately reconstruct housing development for a more socially and economically inclusive urban landscape.
