Jennifer and Keith were thinking about building an ADU for over a year. So many of their friends and family members have been struggling to find affordable housing and they wanted to help make their rental payments more reasonable.

They had some construction experience after remodeling their kitchen during the pandemic but while the project was completed there were still a few things that needed to be done. They survived the experience but decided more help was needed if they were going to construct a small home.

It just so happened that South San Francisco was sending out announcements for Hello Housing's ADU Technical Assistance Program – HelloADU and the family didn’t hesitate to jump in board.
 

Given their goal to house people they were both more and less familiar with, they decided flexibility needed to be incorporated into the overall design. If friends were living in the unit, they wanted them to have their own yard and not have people looking into their back deck. However, if it was family, they wanted to allow the ADU to share the large yard between the homes.

To accomplish this, they oriented the unit to be entered on the side, so they can direct what yard space is utilized depending. They made sure the living room faced the back where enough space was created between the ADU and the fence to allow for private outdoor living areas.
 

They also moved a large storage shed in the back to between the two homes. It provides additional privacy but can also be used by family members to store outdoor furniture, supplies, and recreational equipment.

They minimized the roofline by making it a hip roof that goes down on all sides, instead of looking into the front or side of a gable roof. This makes the mass of the structure much less apparent and keeps the view out to the backyard of their home open. And they kept an eye on moving into the ADU one day themselves. This flexibility creates affordable housing options for everyone and that is very comforting to the family and their community!

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"Hello Housing was a great asset!  They were always at my side throughout the entire project"