Southwest Region Planning Commission seeks homeowners interested in adding an accessory dwelling unit to volunteer properties for case studies

If you’re looking to build on your property, the Southwest Region Planning Commission is looking for you.

Executive Director Todd Horner said the planning commission is seeking three to six Monadnock Region homeowners interested in adding an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to volunteer their properties as design case studies as part of the Monadnock Region ADU Design Challenge.

As the housing crisis continues in the region and statewide, experts have identified ADUs as a key strategy for expanding the residential housing supply while causing little impact to the surrounding land and neighborhood. ADUs can be attached to the principal living unit of a property — typically a house — or exist on the same grounds.

The state authorized ADUs throughout New Hampshire in 2017 to expand the supply of affordable housing in communities without further land development, as well as to encourage efficient use of existing properties.

The planning commission includes data on how each community in the southwest region regulates ADUs in its zoning.

The commission was awarded a more than $18,000 grant from AARP to fund the challenge, in which architects and other building professionals will draft designs that could be used by participating homeowners.

“ADUs by themselves are not a silver bullet, but they’re a key piece of the puzzle to solving the housing shortage,” Horner said. “It’s an approach that can fit within a wide variety of communities.”

While ADUs can be new buildings on a homeowner’s land, they can also be existing structures converted into residential use. Common examples include a garage or barn.

Horner said they’re ideal for older couples or individuals who want to downsize to a smaller home but who don’t want to leave their community. By moving into the smaller ADU, it frees up the primary home for family members or other tenants that they could rent to.

About 44% of the population in New Hampshire’s southwest region is 50 or older, and, due to high rents and reduced or fixed income, struggle to find appropriate housing, according to a news release from SWRPC announcing the design challenge.

Horner said the idea to pursue an ADU design challenge originated with Peterborough officials, who had approached SWRPC in the winter about applying for funding.

Peterborough’s Director of Planning and Building Danica Melone told the Keene Sentinel in June that, in addition to older adults, ADUs are also ideal for young professionals just entering the workforce.

By volunteering for the challenge, Horner said, participants will be guided through a significant hurdle in the ADU development process, which is conceptualizing how your property can support one.

“There will be several conceptual drawings that they will be able to move forward with and develop into construction-ready documents,” he said. “If the homeowner wants to move and take the next step, they’ll be in a good position to do that.”

Melone said homeowners would also have a catalog of designs to choose from that meet zoning requirements, removing red tape and streamlining the approval process if they want to continue with an ADU.

“So instead of a homeowner contracting with an architect to do a custom design for a detached ADU, there might be a catalog of ADU designs that are preapproved,” she said. “People would be able to pick ‘design number two’ instead of a brand-new custom design.”

SWRPC will continue seeking interested homeowners for the next six to eight weeks, Horner said, with the designs being turned in by late November or early December. Those interested in the challenge can fill out a form at www.swrpc.org/adu.

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