TAMPA, Fla. — You might know them as in-law suites, tiny homes, or garage apartments. But in official terms, they are called ADUs. Accessory dwelling units.
And Stacie Sanford enjoys having one behind her Tampa home.
“It’s fabulous. It’s like having an extra house.”
Stacie lives in an area where renting her garage apartment isn’t allowed.
But she uses it when friends come to visit.
“I had some friends most recently that are getting treatment at Moffitt and they live in Ohio. So they were able to come here and have a place to say,” said Sanford.
Right now, only ADUs in Seminole Heights and areas of Lowry Park are zoned to be rentals.
Otherwise, only family members are allowed to live in them.
But city leaders are looking to expand the zoning to many other areas around Tampa.
“A lot of cities are looking at a broad strategy for housing and ADUs are a part of that. They are more affordable because of their smaller footprint. And they create another housing option in an existing neighborhood,” said Matthew Pleasant, Tampa senior planning coordinator.
The city said an online survey showed hundreds of people interested in building an ADU on their property.
City council member Lyn Hurtak has one on her property, although she and her husband use it as a work-from-home space.
“If our circumstances change, we can use it as a rental so we could rent it out and get some income to help pay our mortgage,” said Hurtak.
Right now, the city said they only permit about 8 ADUs a year.
They hope to greatly increase that number while streaming the process of building them.
City staff will present the proposed changes on code reform at the Thursday, October 27 City Council workshop.
