Governor Jerry Brown is expected to sign a bill that would make it easier for homeowners to construct secondary housing units on their property. The San Francisco Business Times reports that the measure, Senate Bill 1069, would override certain local restrictions and requirements on the developments — thus hopefully encouraging their construction in a bid to ease the housing crunch.
Under the measure, the units, commonly referred to as in-laws, would no longer be required to be accompanied by additional parking. Other changes, like lowering the fees to hook the housing up to sewer lines, are also intended to spur construction.
The bill follows on local attempts to boost development of in-laws. Just last July Supervisors Aaron Peskin and Mark Farrell joined together to propose a measure that would allow for the creation of roughly 30,000 rent-controlled units. However, whether or not homeowners would actually take advantage of the legislation remained unclear.
Senate Bill 1069 was proposed by Fremont Democrat Senator Bob Wiekowski, who no doubt believes that every little bit of new housing helps.
