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Yeah they're already doing that in Santa Cruz and it sucks across the board.

Evidence: I live there and I like to go to open houses just to gloat at how badly people have f*ed up otherwise perfectly workable floor plans to make a little extra cash.

OTOH reducing the cost of in-law unit permits to zero across the board would work wonders.

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A lot of those conversions are illegal and substandard. It has been going on for decades. The various city fees for a 500 sq ft ADU, when I investigated it about a decade ago, ran well into 20-30% of the budget for the ADU.

You are preaching to the choir here. I loved when Micah Posner, one of the chief NIMBYs of Santa Cruz, turned out to be an illegal ADU slumlord. That in my opinion explains a lot about how Santa Cruz really works. Or as I refer to it to outsiders: Mayberry politics by the sea.

“Standard” is one of the reasons costs are so high. New builds and large remodels in my city require overhead sprinkler systems... why? 2 car garages too, even though everyone I know uses them for storage or as a workshop. We need to lower housing standards if we want to house everyone.

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