Orlando homeowners who\u2019ve ever dreamed of adding a granny flat, cottage, or garage apartment to their backyard may have a new reason to start planning: the city of Orlando is now offering thousands of dollars in incentives to help pay for it.<\/p>\n
City planning director Jason Burton says Orlando\u2019s housing crunch has been decades in the making. After World War II, many cities-including Orlando-restricted or outright banned accessory dwelling units, often called ADUs. That decision, Burton says, erased a key option for \u201cgentle\u201d growth: small second homes on existing lots that can add housing without changing the look and feel of a neighborhood.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we were kind of missing all that incremental development, that latent demand for accessory dwelling units,\u201d said Burton.<\/p>\n
The Orlando City Council originally passed changes in 2018 to the Land Development Code encouraging the construction of ADUs, as one way to alleviate the housing shortage in Orlando. Since then, many new ADUs have been built, especially in the historic districts where permitting is actually easier, since garage apartments were often part of the original neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Today, ADUs are making a comeback and Burton says they can help a wide-range of people. They can work for seniors who want to downsize while staying close to family, adult children who move back home, single renters, or relatives who need a nearby place to live.<\/p>\n