Boston figured out how to make tiny backyard houses easier and cheaper to build

Accessory dwelling units can help fix the housing crisis, but first more people need to build them.

A simple solution to the housing affordability crisis is sitting in the backyards of houses across the country. The accessory dwelling unit (ADU)—a compact and increasingly permissible home that can be built in the space it might take to park a car or grow a garden—has become a viable way for people to chip away at the housing shortage in their communities. With more cities making them legal to build, homeowners are securing ADU financing and putting in the effort to add tiny houses to their properties to create some extra living space while also making some extra rental income.