United Dwelling has given affordable housing a new look. By streamlining the design process, the Culver City-based startup has created high-end, quality ADU designs with an affordable price tag for homeowners. ADUs have become a popular way to bring more affordable units to market in California, which has been suffering from a severe housing shortage.
"United Dwelling has streamlined the process of building an ADU by using innovative techniques to find cost efficiencies in how we conduct site preparation, build the units, and install them," Steven Dietz, Founder and CEO of United Dwelling, tells GlobeSt.com. "We don't start construction until we can build 4-5 units within a 3-minute drive of each other, allowing us to drastically save in labor and material costs. Once we start work on a homeowner's property the entire process takes four-to-six weeks and we expect to decrease the time of that work even more over time."
The housing shortage in California was the biggest crisis in the state, before the onset of the pandemic, and the state had eased the ADU development process for homeowners, among other housing models, to bring more supply to the market. "Our country continues to face an affordable housing crisis," says Dietz. "Supply has not kept up with demand and increasing costs have resulted in a quarter of people in the country spending over 50% of their income on housing. Los Angeles County follows the national trend: the 2019 Area Median Income was $73,000 for the area while average rents hovered around $2,500 per month or $30,000 per year."
While the state has eased the ADU development process, getting through any permitting can be challenging—particularly for homeowners without development experience. "State legislation passed in 2016 and 2019 has made it easier than ever for homeowners to build these units," says Dietz. "However, there is still a lot of red tape when it comes to permitting, finding a contractor, architect, and then financing the unit. We offer straightforward financing options or, alternatively, can finance the unit entirely ourselves for a share of the rental income. We also find tenants, manage and maintain the unit, so the process is entirely frictionless for the homeowner. We will price the rent of these units affordably so people who have to commute to work one-to-two hours each day can now afford to live in these communities. Our goal is to leverage our data, technology, and manufacturing partnerships to build 250 units this year and ramp up significantly in coming years to put a dent in the lack of affordable housing."
There are many avenues to bring more affordable housing to the market, ADUs are often overlooked; however, Dietz says there is a lot of potential to add a significant number of units to the market. "There are over 800,000 properties in Los Angeles County alone that could support an ADU," he says. "We think there is a huge opportunity to cater to this significant unaddressed market while supporting homeowners with supplemental income and an increase in their property value."
United is currently focused on development in Los Angeles, but has already had inquires from all over the state. It plans to expand in the future. For now, it is moving forward on current construction projects, despite the pandemic. "The safety of our team and our homeowners is our top concern," says Dietz. "Here in California construction is considered an essential business and we are currently moving forward with work to help alleviate the affordable housing crisis. However, we are monitoring for updates from federal, state, and local officials on a daily basis while adhering to current policies and taking extra health and safety precautions."
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