Durham is getting outside help, and some money, to get more homes built, and city housing staff are pointing a lot of that attention at accessory dwelling units.
WUNC's Bradley George reported that the Bull City has been picked for a new Bloomberg Philanthropies housing initiative that takes lessons learned in Austin, Atlanta and San Diego and spreads them to other cities. Each city chosen will get between $450,000 and $750,000, along with technical help.
Three playbooks
According to the announcement from Bloomberg Philanthropies and its partner, Accelerator for America, the program is built around three local models: faster, digitized permitting from San Diego; expanded ADUs from Austin; and housing "strike forces" from Atlanta. Each participating city takes on one of the three, with roughly 10 local governments pursuing each idea.
The money can go toward piloting technology to clear approvals, hiring architects to draft permit-ready plans and paying strike force staff. Accelerator for America and other specialists, such as Public Digital, will provide hands-on operational support. The goal within two years is to cut approval timelines in half, double ADU pipelines and post gains in citywide housing supply.
Participating city halls will also trade notes with their peers on what's working. "That is what this initiative is all about: helping more mayors adopt proven ways of getting more housing built — and delivering," said Michael R. Bloomberg, the former three-term New York City mayor who founded Bloomberg Philanthropies.
The initiative will eventually reach up to 30 cities. Durham was named in the first group, alongside cities including Albuquerque, Charleston, Chattanooga, Cleveland, Louisville, Miami, Nashville, Omaha, Pittsburgh and San Jose.
Durham's ADU focus
Housing and Neighborhood Services Director Sarah Viñas said the city will be "accessing expertise from experts from across the country, as well as receive funding to expand accessory dwelling units and other creative housing types across our city."
Viñas told WUNC she's especially keen to learn from Austin's experience. ADUs, also known as granny flats or garage apartments, are small homes built next to existing houses. Austin eased its ADU zoning rules in 2015 and issued more than 2,800 ADU permits between 2015 and 2024, according to Pew. The Bloomberg announcement adds that Austin's leaders legalized up to three homes on most single-family lots, including backyard and other accessory units, and shrank minimum lot sizes from 5,750 to 1,800 square feet.
Closer to home, the Raleigh City Council voted to allow ADUs in 2020, and the city has launched a gallery of pre-approved architectural plans to speed up construction.
Durham already has its own experiment going. The city recently launched a pilot program offering low-interest financing to 20 homeowners to build ADUs on their property. "We actually haven't seen anyone else doing a program of this kind, so we're testing out this idea," Viñas said.
Mayor Leonardo Williams said in a statement that "exploring every option to meet our residents where they are will be my top priority as mayor," and thanked Bloomberg Philanthropies for seeing value in the city's approach.
The other two models
San Diego's model is all about speed. After the mayor there signed an executive order setting a 30-day limit on approvals, the city fast-tracked building application reviews by going digital. Homes cleared for construction jumped 82% in one year, the most since 2005, and the pace held the following year with nearly 8,800 permitted, according to the announcement.
In Atlanta, Mayor Andre Dickens pulled every agency leader with a hand in housing into one unit under his chief housing officer, aimed at breaking loose stalled projects. The announcement credits that team with putting more than 2,000 affordable units back in motion.
The announcement also ties the effort to federal policy, saying the ROAD to Housing Act creates new incentives for the same kinds of reforms, including modernized permitting and pre-approved housing plans, and rewards the places ready to carry them out.
Why it matters for Contractors
ADUs are small jobs, but they add up, and they're exactly the kind of work many local residential contractors are set up to do. If Durham follows the Austin playbook, contractors could see faster approvals, more homeowners with financing in hand and, possibly, permit-ready plans that cut design time on each job. It's worth getting to know the city's housing staff now, watching for any pre-approved plan program and being ready when homeowners in that low-interest pilot start looking for someone to build.