NORTH CHARLESTON — As the cost of housing continues to rise, city leaders are looking to allow accessory dwelling units in residential areas to provide more housing options.
An accessory dwelling unit, also known as a carriage house or in-law suite, is a separate, detached living space with a kitchen and bathroom on the same property as a single-family home. The city’s proposed ordinance would allow homeowners to rent the separate unit to a long-term tenant, which would provide additional income to the homeowner and increase housing stock.
“The answer to the housing crisis is very simple. It is more housing,” Councilman Brandon Hudson said. “Unless we allow more types of housing and more density, we will never be able to fully address the housing deficit.”
The city currently allows ADUs in a few overlay districts, such as the Olde North Charleston Historic District and Neighborhood Conservation District, which covers a strip of Park Circle between Spruill and Virginia avenues.
The new amendment that City Council will review Jan. 9 at the first meeting of the year will allow ADUs in residential areas across the city.
However, certain restrictions in the ordinance will not allow these additional units on small lot sizes to prevent too much density, said Hudson, whose district includes Park Circle.
The ordinance is aimed at areas like Park Circle where larger lot sizes can accommodate additional density, as opposed to already dense areas like Liberty Hill, Chicora-Cherokee and Accabee.
According to the proposed ordinance, an ADU cannot be more than two-thirds the size of the principal dwelling unit or exceed 800 square feet. The lot size must be at least 4,500 square feet. An additional off-street parking spot for the ADU must be provided. All ADUs must be permitted by the city.
It’s intentional that these additional units are small, said Tim Macholl, the city’s director of planning and zoning, during a November committee meeting. He said the space is ideal for a college student who is spending the summer at home or in-laws staying in town. It also provides an opportunity for additional income for homeowners if they choose to rent it out, he added.
However, these units are not eligible for short-term rental permits, so they can not be used for vacation rental services, like Airbnb.
City leaders do not plan to impose rent control on the ADUs that would ensure affordability for renters, Hudson said. Instead, the goal is to create more housing stock, so the price of housing naturally comes down.
“If you put too many obstructions in the way of allowing people to build housing, they’re not going to build housing,” Hudson said.
The city of Charleston once tried putting affordability restrictions on ADUs. Charleston’s ordinance is similar to North Charleston’s proposed one in that ADUs cannot be used as short-term rentals and must go through a permitting process.
However, Charleston City Council added a guarantee to the ordinance in 2020 that required these units to be offered at an affordable rental rate for tenants making 80 percent of the area’s median income. At the time, the rent could not exceed $1,135 per month for a one-bedroom unit.
This restriction led to a nearly two-year period where no new rental ADUs were permitted by the city, according to the city’s Housing and Community Development Department at the time.
In April 2022, City Council agreed the affordability requirement was too restrictive. Council voted that ADUs built using the city’s grant funding must be rented at an affordable rate, while all other ADUs are priced at the discretion of the homeowner.
North Charleston’s proposed ordinance amendment will be read at City Council on Jan. 9. The public will have the opportunity to provide comments the following week at the Jan. 16 committee meeting.