“Boise City Coun­cil has select­ed LEAP Hous­ing as a part­ner for two pilot pro­grams aimed at cre­at­ing more afford­able hous­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties,” accord­ing to an arti­cle from the Ida­ho Press staff. The pro­grams will cre­ate new mech­a­nisms for per­mit­ting move­able ‘tiny homes’ and acces­so­ry dwelling units (ADUs) on sin­gle-fam­i­ly lots in the city. “The pilot pro­grams were cre­at­ed in part­ner­ship with the Har­vard-Bloomberg Inno­va­tion Track team and will explore these forms of hous­ings as pos­si­ble solu­tions the city can use to address hous­ing afford­abil­i­ty.”

The move­able tiny homes were not pre­vi­ous­ly per­mit­ted, and the pilot pro­gram will approve per­mits for five to six prop­er­ties. “ADUs are some­times allowed in some parts of the city. This pro­gram will assist res­i­dents who want to build and rent out a unit at an afford­able rate for 10 years. Par­tic­i­pat­ing res­i­dents will receive resources from the city, includ­ing help with per­mit­ting and an exemp­tion for city impact fees, the release said.”

ADUs have land­ed in the spot­light as more cities and states reform their zon­ing codes to allow prop­er­ty own­ers in sin­gle-fam­i­ly zoned neigh­bor­hoods to build addi­tion­al hous­ing units on their lots in an effort to boost hous­ing afford­abil­i­ty and light­ly increase den­si­ty in already devel­oped areas.