HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — The City of Tampa is considering expanding zoning laws to allow more people to build accessory dwelling units on their property. ADUs are also known as tiny homes or in-law suites.
The city said more ADUs may help create more affordable housing.
Nancy Crane built a tiny home on her property last year.
“It’s been fantastic, it’s wonderful for our family. My sister's been here for three months. She’s coming down from the north for the winter," Crane said.
She said it has given her sister a place to live for the winter months without having to pay rent.
Henry Mosely with Goldsborough Company said a lot of his clients are starting to build ADUs.
“A lot of our clients are building them. It was first a trickle, and then now it’s a rage,” Mosely said.
Mosley has built several units across the Tampa Bay area. He said most of his clients use them for family members, but the city said renting them out is also an option.
“There’s a lot of interest in talking abut ADUs and putting an ADU on their property and changing the rules so it’s a little bit easier to do so," said city planning director Stephen Benson.
As the idea of an ADU becomes more popular, the City of Tampa is working to adjust special use conditions so more people can build them. One change includes where the property owner has to live.
“One of the changes to put forward is to say the owner has to live on-site, so the owner can either be in the ADU or principal residence,” Benson said.
They will also discuss changing the number of people who can live in the ADU. Right now, the code only allows certain neighborhoods to have ADUs on property, and the city is working to add more zip codes to the mix.
Currently, those zip codes are 33603, 33604 and 33605. That encompasses areas like Seminole Heights and Ybor City. Benson said more ADUs may help create more affordable housing.
“They are most likely to create an affordable place to live that is not controlled, for instance, through something like an income restriction or rent control,” Benson said.
Benson said they will present the changes to city council this summer.
