{"id":230771,"date":"2026-06-29T09:56:06","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/230771\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T09:56:06","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T09:56:06","slug":"pa-housing-bills-would-make-accessory-dwellings-easier-to-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/230771\/","title":{"rendered":"Pa. housing bills would make accessory dwellings easier to build"},"content":{"rendered":"

Have a question about Philly\u2019s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Ask an economist how to make housing more affordable in the U.S. and they\u2019ll likely mention a straightforward solution: build more homes.\n<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s not a silver bullet, building more homes gives buyers and renters more options, helping slow the upward climb of home prices and rents. It can even lower prices if a market is experiencing significant overbuilding.\n<\/p>\n

In Pennsylvania, those dynamics sit at the heart of two bipartisan bills that state lawmakers hope to pass this session as part of a broader housing push. Both look to increase the state\u2019s supply of so-called accessory dwelling units, or ADUs, independent dwellings that are attached to a single-family home or sit separately on the property.\n <\/p>\n

The bills would require municipalities to allow them by right, meaning property owners wouldn\u2019t need discretionary approval to build them, even if they are restricted locally by their municipality.\n<\/p>\n

In many municipalities around the state, building an ADU requires a zoning variance \u2014 approval to deviate from the law.\u00a0 Advocates say that often creates a time-consuming and expensive impediment to building, whether a homeowner wants to build a tiny home, convert a garage or create a basement apartment.\n<\/p>\n

The bills in Harrisburg would effectively bypass that approval process by creating a statewide standard for ADUs, increasing the certainty that homeowners can make these projects happen.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current systems in place have gotten us into this situation, and so we need to try to do things. We need to change and adapt,\u201d said state Rep. John Inglis, D-Allegheny, who introduced the House version<\/a> of the measure.\n<\/p>\n

Local governments are opposed<\/p>\n

The effort comes amid a statewide housing crisis<\/a> partly shaped by a shortage of units, especially affordable rentals for low-income residents. At the current \u201cbuild rate,\u201d Pennsylvania will be short roughly 185,000 homes by 2035, according to the Shapiro administration\u2019s housing plan<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Proponents say ADUs can help close the gap, while providing homeowners with additional income and tenants with more independence. They are typically small rentals and are considered an example of \u201cgentle density\u201d<\/a> along with duplexes, triplexes and multiplexes.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think there is a game-changing policy step that could be taken to change things quickly next month or even next year. But all these steps to increase available supply are very positive and directionally very important,\u201d said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody\u2019s Analytics.\n<\/p>\n

Opponents strongly disagree. Organizations representing local governments call the bills a \u201cone-size-fits-all mandate\u201d that discounts the land-use expertise of municipalities across the state, a move they say will create \u201creal challenges.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThese challenges include exceeding street parking capacity; exceeding water, sewer, and storm water infrastructure capacity; hindering emergency services access to dwellings and ADUs; and further increasing density in already dense neighborhoods,\u201d the Pennsylvania Municipal League and the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Commissioners said in a joint statement.\n<\/p>\n

The bills in the House and Senate are similar to measures passed in several states, including California, Massachusetts and Oregon. And while they mirror one another, they are not carbon copies.\n<\/p>\n

In the House, the measure permits ADUs by right on a \u201cparcel or lot on which a residential building is present or may be constructed,\u201d while the Senate version applies more narrowly to land where a single-family home sits or can be built.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Have a question about Philly\u2019s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230772,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4736,28,30,29,2312],"class_list":["post-230771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-housing","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-planphilly"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230771\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230772"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}