Guest Commentary | Let’s legalize fourplexes in Santa Cruz County

This Guest Commentary appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel | February 18, 2021

By Elizabeth Conlan

Many of us have some connection to the housing affordability crisis that is not just hurting our community, but our entire state. We have children or friends who have moved away, we know a teacher who commutes over the hill in order to afford living here, or, like me, you’re a renter and you’ve faced intense competition for housing and spent most of your adulthood living with roommates. While many local discussions over housing revolve around single, specific apartment or condo projects, there are so many other ideas that our community should be pursuing to improve housing affordability. Recent reform in Sacramento shows us one way.

A few weeks ago, on Jan. 19, the Sacramento City Council unanimously approved a preliminary plan to allow for up to four units (a fourplex) on all residential land in the city. While this policy may seem like a bold or radical decision, I think it is an example of a common sense, modest reform that we urgently need to address the shortage of “missing-middle” class-type housing.

In effect, single-family only neighborhoods already allow for — and welcome — triplexes. State laws legalize up to two accessory dwelling units (ADUs), commonly known as granny flats, on properties across the state. All homeowners can now build one backyard detached ADU and one “junior” ADU (JADU), which is converted from an existing structure such as a spare bedroom or garage. ADUs now account for a lot of the new housing being built throughout Santa Cruz County and these new laws have been embraced by those interested in building a unit for an adult child or elderly parent as well as for rental income.

Single-family only neighborhoods have become single-family in name only: high housing costs have squeezed families, young professionals, college students and workers in the low wage jobs into overcrowded houses. I used to rent a room in a three-bedroom house in Capitola that I shared with three other people. Replacing that house with a triplex improves the lives of its inhabitants without affecting the neighborhood. As the pandemic has highlighted, multiple households crowding into a shared space is a public health issue. Smaller units also make it possible for families to afford and access their own space.

As the rise in ADU popularity has demonstrated, diversifying housing types and the neighborhoods where new housing gets built, provides important options for renters and homeowners. Legalizing fourplexes would not only benefit landowners, but also provides critical new ownership opportunities for lower-income and younger folks in the community. ADUs are only rental housing and allowing small plexes in neighborhoods would be a great complement.

Finally, I recognize that duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes are not a cure-all for our region’s housing crisis. We will still need more funding for non-profit developers who design projects specifically for low-income seniors or families or supportive housing for those experiencing homelessness. We will still need new apartments and student housing.

However, legalizing fourplexes is a smart strategy for Santa Cruz; fourplexes share the environmental advantages of multi-family housing like greater per person water use efficiency and a smaller carbon footprint, but at a scale that fits into our neighborhoods from Scotts Valley to Soquel to Watsonville.

Elizabeth Conlan is a resident of Santa Cruz and a leader of the local pro-housing group Santa Cruz YIMBY.