ABC guide to accessory apartments: Affordable rental place made easier

SALISBURY — In troubled economic times and with affordable housing an increasingly urgent concern of  Northwest Corner towns, homeowners might want to get some tips on how to create an accessory apartment.

Such information is available from HousingUs, an initiative of the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation. With the help of a $25,000 grant from an anonymous donor, HousingUs has created  three accessory apartment guides for towns in the Tri-state region.

These guides, specifically written for the towns of Kent, Salisbury and Sharon, are available now, at town halls and on the foundation’s website, berkshiretaconic.org. Guides for Falls Village, Cornwall and Sheffield, Mass., are in the works.

The guides explain what accessory units are, and clarify the zoning regulations in each town that relate to such residences.

An accessory apartment is a self-contained housing unit that may either be a segment of the main residence or in a separate structure such as a garage on the property of a single-family home.

Accessory apartments are a relatively easy and immediate way to provide units, the guides explain. No new construction is involved, nor changes to the landscape — hurdles that often derail projects.

The person behind the guides is HousingUs Program Coordinator Jocelyn Ayer (who also works for the Northwestern Connecticut Planning Collaborative, a regional planning group that includes the six Northwest Corner towns of North Canaan, Cornwall, Falls Village, Sharon, Kent and Salisbury).

While the three guides all follow a template, each one contains information specific to its town because, as Ayer pointed out, zoning regulations and permitting procedures and fees do vary.

For instance, the Kent guide notes that detached accessory apartments may only be created in the RU zoning district.

“This district covers a large percentage of the town,†the guide explains. “If you are not sure which zoning district you are located in, ask the land use administrator. You will need a special permit and site plan approval to do this.â€

Phone numbers for the relevant town offices are included.

Ayer said the guides should be helpful for the person “who may not want to do this tomorrow,†but wishes to be prepared for the opportunity presented when a death in the family leaves someone with more house than is needed. Also interested might be the first-time home buyer who can only make the finances work with the income generated by an apartment.

So far Ayer has fielded about 25 calls from within the Tri-state region — four from Salisbury, where creating affordable housing from existing buildings is a goal of the report of that town’s Affordable Housing Advisory Committee —from people either considering adding an accessory apartment or already working on it.

Ayer said such housing units are affordable by their very nature. They are small, usually meant for one person.

And Ayer believes that simply increasing the amount of rental stock keeps rental rates down, as does the intimacy inherent in an accessory apartment, where there is a closer relationship between landlord and tenant than in a multi-unit apartment building.

“They are sharing the same space,†said Ayer.

Ayer said the HousingUs program “goes beyond just putting a guidebook in people’s hands.

“We’re trying to clear any barriers, and trying to determine the best support mechanism†for homeowners hoping to create an accessory apartment.

In putting together the guides, Ayer looked at results from other parts of New England. A similar program in Brattleboro, Vt., yielded good — and surprising — results.

“They thought the older people living alone in big houses would be most interested, but more often it was younger people living in smaller homes who were looking for extra income or even to avoid foreclosure†who participated.

In Brattleboro, the process of creating an accessory apartment begins with an interested home-
owner making a call to Brattleboro Area Affordable Housing, whose Byron Stookey spoke in Salisbury in June 2009.

Stookey said at that time that about 10 percent of the calls from homeowners actually result in an apartment as property owners consider the cost, the loss of space, the vagaries of septic systems, or otherwise lose interest.

“People often like the idea but haven’t thought it through. If, after we’ve put the fear of God into them, if we fail to scare them off, we look at the available space, which comes in all forms,†Stookey said.

The Brattleboro group, with limited resources, can only do so much to assist, he said — but apparently it’s enough.

“We don’t do financing, we’re not contractors. We do offer referrals if asked,†he said.

But the group will connect the homeowner with assistance from volunteers — architecture students and a property manager who advises new landlords on taxes and tenant relations. On average each apartment requires about eight to 10 hours of volunteer work.

And the Brattleboro homeowner receives a $3,000 reimbursement after the construction is finished. There is no such provision in the HousingUs program.

The typical cost of conversion in Brattleboro is $15,000.

“When we started we had two misconceptions. We thought we’d be dealing with empty nesters — instead, it’s been death and divorce.

“We thought we’d be doing big old houses, but that’s only two of the 25. Most of the homes are quite modest.â€

There will be an accessory apartment workshop in late October — Ayer is working on a date — in collaboration with Salisbury Bank and Trust.

“The workshop will be another opportunity for people to get a hard copy of the guide and also to ask questions,†Ayer said.

“I will be there to give a brief presentation on the steps in the process of creating an accessory apartment. Then we will have a panel of experts homeowners can ask questions of: a banker (on financing an addition), a contractor (who has built accessory apartments) and a homeowner who has built and rented accessory apartments.â€

To reach Ayer, call 413-229-0370 or visit berkshiretaconic.org.