One year after the Affordable Homes Act allowed accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to be built by right across Massachusetts, cities and towns have permitted or approved 1,224 ADUs to date in 217 communities, including 27 in Lowell.
Numbers from the Governor’s office showed the Mill City with 26 approved units, the fourth highest total in the state. An updated list sent to InsideLowell by Assistant City Manager Shawn Machado earlier today, however, listed 27 total permits issued by the city, 14 of them complete with an occupancy permit. Machado says another two are in the review process.
Plymouth topped the chart with 34-ADU’s approved. Lawrence with 32 and Nantucket with 27 were the other Massachusetts communities listed above Lowell by Governor Healey’s team.
Healey recently announced several new initiatives to build on this progress and accelerate the production of ADUs to help lower costs statewide.
“ADUs are one of the most practical ways to add homes and lower costs. They allow older adults to age near their loved ones and young adults to live independently while starting their careers,” Governor Maura Healey said. “This first-year data shows homeowners are already starting to take advantage of our new law, and we’re going to keep making it easier and cheaper to build ADUs so we can bring down housing costs for everyone.”
“It’s great to see so many people across Massachusetts signing up to build ADUs,” added Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “By setting clear rules statewide and backing them up with real support, we’re giving families more options while helping cities and towns grow housing.”
In all, 1,639 applications were submitted statewide. 48% of the permits issued were for detached ADU’s.
As for the other towns in our coverage area, Dracut approved ten projects. Chelmsford gave the go-ahead for seven and Tewksbury two. Westford did not respond to the state’s survey.
An updated interactive map tracking all ADU applications and approvals can be found at Mass.gov/ADUtracker.
Because the statewide by-right standard is still new and municipal reporting is ongoing, these figures represent an initial snapshot and the Governor’s office expects them to grow over time. Updated progress can be found at mass.gov/ADU.
