PHOENIX — Since Ed Hermes bought his Phoenix home in 2015, he’s hoped to build a guest house for his mother-in-law in his backyard. She lives in Puerto Rico, and they would like to have her close by.
“She’s getting a little older,” he said. “We can keep an eye on her, and she can see the kids more.”
But the current Phoenix Zoning Ordinance doesn’t allow livable structures to be built in backyards. That could change Wednesday, when council members will vote to amend the code to allow Accessory Dwelling Units, or ADUs, most known as casitas, guest houses, or in-law suites, in backyards.
“The ultimate goal is to increase our housing stock,” said Vice Mayor Yassamin Ansari. “It’s not a cure-all of our housing shortage, but it’s one solution that I think is easy and can be very quickly implemented.”
The casitas would be allowed to have electricity and plumbing, must meet certain size and placement requirements, and be approved by the city. Homeowners would be allowed to rent the structure, but they must live in either the main home or in the ADU.
State law currently restricts cities from prohibiting or banning short-term rentals, that’s why Susan Edwards, co-founder and president of the Arizona Neighborhood Alliance, said she fears the measure will make the housing shortage worse.
“It’s a great idea. It’s a great concept. The problem that we have is how do you keep them from becoming yet more short-term rentals?” Edwards said. “There’s supposedly a 270,000-unit housing shortage, 60,000 are short-term rentals, and they’re growing at a great rate. The demand for these kinds of things, especially less expensive ones, will be even greater.”
To prevent casitas from being turned into short-term rentals, the vice mayor said council members are continuing to advocate to the Arizona Legislature to “remove preemptions on cities,” which she said had “seen kind of bipartisan response, indicating that there’s interest in that.”
But even with a requirement for the owner to live in the property, Edwards argues that won’t be enough, hinting at the city’s low staffing that would limit enforcement.
“It’s in the execution, that’s the problem,” Edwards said. “How do you do it to protect neighborhoods?”
The City of Phoenix also can’t prevent an investor from buying the property and renting both (main home and ADU) together as a short-term rental and taking both out of the housing supply, Edwards said.
“We do want to do everything we can to make sure that these aren’t just becoming Airbnb’s and the city is working on policy to make sure that is difficult,” Ansari said.
As for homeowner Hermes, he’s started drafting his casita plans and can already imagine his mother-in-law living with them.
“Wake up and my mother-in-law comes out, has a little cafecito, smells the lemon tree, and is loving life,” he said. “Then comes in to see the kids.”
The city council will have the final vote, after public comments, starting at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday.