Mayor Ben Cantu wants to chip away at Manteca’s affordable housing deficit 400 square feet at a time.
And while that is happening, he wants to put hundreds of dollars or more a month into the pockets of Manteca homeowners.
“The city needs to make it easier to convert garages into auxiliary dwelling units,” Cantu said.
Promoting garage conversions and making them easier and less expensive for people to do is one of the sooner-than-later fixes that Cantu along with Councilman Jose Nuño as a council subcommittee are working on to address Manteca’s vexing affordable housing problem. Cantu is hopeful to have a package of options for council consideration by the start of 2021.
“Done right they fit seamlessly into neighborhoods,” Cantu said.
Cantu designed an auxiliary dwelling unit (ADU) for a client with a home in Tracy after that city stepped up efforts to make it easier for homeowners to convert garages into additional housing.
Cantu noted the garage conversion has a bathroom, closets, a kitchen area and a living area that also does double duty as a bedroom.
It also has elevation modifications where the garage doors once were that blends into the architectural style of the rest of the home. Some ADU conversions of garage create mini walled off entrance patios and a small landscaped area to break up the starkness of driveways.
The mayor noted at Tuesday’s council meeting Manteca is literally thousands of living units short for workforce housing — the people who basically work in retail and lower level distribution jobs — based on state guidelines. The same is true of lower income housing.
“The only thing Manteca has really built for low income housing is for seniors,” Cantu said.
There is one project aimed at workforce housing — the Juniper Apartments next to Tesoro Apartments on Atherton Drive. Juniper Apartments typically has a wait list in excess of 200 people wanting to rent units.
“We are becoming a community of haves and have nots when it comes to being able to buy or rent a home,” Cantu said.
Cantu noted the at-market housing solutions for buyers have essentially nothing but standard single family homes lined up for the next nine or so years that basically cater to those with Bay Area paychecks.
The mayor is heartened by Raymus Homes — a builder that traditionally tries to offer a product local buyers can afford — plans to start The Manteca Trails’ 1,237-home neighborhood on the western end of Woodward Avenue with homes built on 3,450-square-foot lots. The intent is to aim for the mid-$300,000s price range.
At the same time the Oakdale-based Woodward Pacific Builders pursuing Vintage Estates II — a 69-home project planned for along Woodward Avenue east of Pillsbury Road — will offer buyers the option of an RV garage in addition to a two-car garage or an auxiliary dwelling unit.
Raymus Homes and Atherton Homes have offered similar options referred to as casitas that are under the same roof and have separate entrances. They function as standalone apartments.
How Manteca’s stepped up
garage conversion make work
Garage conversions have been permissible for years but making them into a self-contained auxiliary dwelling unit has been difficult. Several years ago the State of California made it easier to do so. Cities such as Los Angeles stepped up to the plate. Los Angeles has been using new state rules to encourage the creation of auxiliary dwelling units and to bring illegal garage conversions into compliance.
Cantu said the committee would like to see the city offer on its website three garage conversion plans for people can download for free.
“We don’t want to charge for them,” Cantu said.
Not only does it save a homeowner what could be a cost of $2,000 or more to come up with plans but the city wiould be able to process permits quicker.
Given that most two car garages are 20 by 20 feet or 400 square feet — the next most common size is 24 by 24 feet — such a strategy is do-able.
California law exempts housing units 500 square feet and under from paying per square foot school facility fees.
Cantu also want to look at deferring, reducing or suspending various city fees.
Given an ADU garage conversion would function as a studio apartment meaning no additional outside water use would be generated and it could be connected to a home’s existing service, it could be justified to drop wastewater and water connection fees for new dwelling that are in excess of $10,000.
He believes fees that don’t make sense or are too high for the impact of adding a 400-square-foot ADU to the city should be dropped or reduced.
Although it doesn’t apply to an ADU, Cantu said it makes no sense that an apartment complex is required to develop a park-like area within their project with a tot play area and such and make them still pay a neighborhood park fee per unit on top of a community park fee.
ADU can also generate
money for homeowners
The conversion of a garage to an ADU also can create a steady stream of income for homeowners
And if the city helps keep the cost down, more people could afford to pursue such conversions by either dipping into savings or getting bank loans and pencil projects out where they can clear $200 to $300 a month and still rent such ADUs out at rates below what similar sized studios go for. Studio apartments at Westwood Village on Center Street rent for $1,125 a month
It is the ultimate way of cleaning out your garage to make money.
If you have a tough time envisioning how you can get a bathroom, bedroom, living space closets, laundry and a kitchen in 400 square feet, IKEA stores in Emeryville, East Palo Alto, and West Sacramento have mock finished living spaces that get all of that in and more with the smallest starting at 391 square feet.
To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
