A Granny Flat of One’s Own? The Households that Build Accessory-Dwelling Units in Seattle’s King County

Abstract

This paper inserts itself in current debates about the legalization of Accessory-Dwelling Units (ADUs), by casting a new light on the profiles of households filing ADU permits in the unincorporated areas of Seattle’s King County. Correlations between the concentration of minority households and the permitting of ADUs might call into question preconceived notions that such legalizations benefit suburban, older, white middle-class households in the first place. We seek to address the relationship between legalizing ADUs in King County, the major county of the Seattle metropolitan area, and general characteristics of households who build ADUs, based on age, race, and income. Findings underline premises for further evidence about the fact that minority homeowners benefit from the local permitting of ADUs. These findings could be the translation of a particular adequacy between ADU legalization and the long-term projects of local homeowners to transform their residential space.

About the Author

Magda Maaoui is a PhD Student in Urban Planning at Columbia GSAPP. Her research interests focus on housing policy, real estate development, urban history, community planning and spatial justice. Her current focus is on the evaluation and comparison of housing policy programs in American and French metropolitan areas, in how they perpetuate - even exacerbate - existing logics of inequality and poverty. With a global academic and professional experience acquired in Europe (France, Denmark), Africa (Algeria, Senegal) and the Americas (United States, Costa Rica), projects she worked on range from sustainable policy to education, community planning and neighborhood revitalization. Magda is registered in France as a civil servant (2010) with research and teaching credentials. She is also a Fulbright Fellow (2016). She received a Bachelor in Geography and Planning from the Université Lyon II Lumière, and a Masters in Geography and Planning from the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon. She held a Visiting position at UC Berkeley during her Masters training.

Households with a permitted Accessory-Dwelling Unit in King County’s unincorporated Community Service Areas, since the 2010 legalization (Image by author)