Officials say Seattle’s reforms designed to boost the creation of so-called accessory dwelling units have succeeded with a “350%” boost in production since the legislation was passed in 2019.

The Seattle City Council’s land use committee heard an update on the city’s “backyard housing” trends Wednesday afternoon based on the city’s “2022 ADU Annual Report.” (PDF)

According to the report, production of the units “has exploded by 3.5 times, from 280 units a year in 2019 to 988 in 2022,” the council’s notes on the session read.

The 2019 reforms came after city analysis showed only 1% of approximately 124,000 single-family zoned lots in Seattle in use for single family residential development had added attached or detached “accessory dwelling unit” structures.

Next steps, according to the review, include continuing to monitor trends including sales data, informing the mayor’s growth planning work, and finding ways to “support more equitable use of ADUs by helping lower and moderate income homeowners” build or live in the housing.

30% of ADUs permitted in 2022 were in census tracts with a median household income above $135,000, “consistent with the share of all tracts at that income level in Seattle,” the report notes.

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