On a sunny Monday afternoon, Joanne Quinn was tilling and reseeding her front lawn in the Hough neighborhood. When she decided to have an accessory dwelling unit built she didn’t know contractors would have to dig a trench in the yard to lay a new water pipe. The ADU, which is stacked on top of a garage behind her house, also couldn’t be connected to overhead power lines. Putting in an underground transformer required an easement.
“It’s a process. Building is a process. It’s the first time I’ve ever done something like this,” Quinn said.
Despite the unforeseen issues, she knows it will be worthwhile. The 500-square-foot unit at the end of her newly paved driveway will house a relative. The separation between the main house and ADU gives each privacy and independence while still being close. It’s nearly complete; work started in February.
“I think it’s just the cutest building in the world back there,” Quinn said. As city code requires, the new ADU is accented with red and yellow to match her house.
Quinn is among a handful of people, particularly on Vancouver’s west side, who have built ADUs. Jennifer and Mark Wyld had ACT Builders construct an apartment on top of a garage they had built in the backyard of their Carter Park property. Stairs from the garage open into a full kitchen, and there’s a bathroom with a shower and a small living area next to the bedroom, which has a closet.
They figure that renting to their youngest daughter, who’s starting graduate school, frees up another rental somewhere else. Jennifer Wyld volunteers with Free Hot Soup, a local group that feeds people experiencing homelessness, so she’s well aware of the lack of affordable rentals in Vancouver.
Previously, the couple’s older daughter lived in the ADU while she volunteered with AmeriCorps Vista.
“It’s been really nice to have for our kids,” Mark Wyld said.
The couple lived in the ADU temporarily while their main house was being renovated, and they’ve also let friends stay there. They’re not sure what to do with the ADU after their daughter leaves. Maybe they will rent it out or turn it into a short-term online rental.
Wendy Galliart just welcomed her second tenant to what she calls “the mini house” in the Carter Park neighborhood. The 506-square-foot ADU takes up space where there used to be an old, small garage.
“I’m really glad I did that because otherwise I’d be struggling financially,” she said. The $1,250 rent she charges includes utilities and a fee for her tenant’s two dogs.
Galliart, a nurse at Oregon Health & Science University, bought the main house from her ex-wife after they divorced. They still co-parent and thought it would be easier on their son if he only had to deal with one new house, not two.
Galliart refinanced and borrowed extra money against the house to pay for the ADU, which cost about $80,000. HDC Renovations built it.
She considered turning the ADU into an Airbnb rental after the first renter moved out but worried it wouldn’t generate year-round income. While she thinks it would be fun to furnish and manage an Airbnb unit, it would also be a big investment and extra work.
“That’s on my radar, maybe,” Galliart said.
It’s been easy for Galliart to find interested renters because the market is so tight. She is not sure, though, that enough people have the resources to construct ADUs to make a big dent in what the city deems an affordable housing crisis.
