Summit’s accessory dwelling unit fund is woefully underused.
The fund has $750,000 for homeowners willing to build a workforce, deed-restricted Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on their properties.
But county staff estimates just one-third of that fund will be claimed this year. As of September, only four property owners have applied.
Staff has a theory: Sky-high construction costs are not worth the trouble. Assistance is capped at $60,000. That’s almost one-quarter of a 500-square-foot lock-off, when based on the construction cost at Summit’s county-owned ADU project, Nellie’s Neighborhood at Bill’s Ranch in Frisco.
This echoes what is happening with the ADU program in Crested Butte, where housing director Erin Ganser recently said: “The people who can afford to build them do not want them and the people that want to build them cannot afford to.”
Summit County commissioners take a hard look at this fund at Tuesday’s work session. It starts at 9:30 a.m.