We live in San Jose, the self-proclaimed economic, cultural and political center of Silicon Valley and the largest city in Northern California. And like many things in California, it's an expensive place to live, especially housing which is in short supply.
The average price of a house in San Jose as of January 2020 is $960,000 or $637 per square foot, the average rental price for a 2 bedroom apartment, $2,667.
To help relieve this housing shortage the City has looked at a number of measures, from shipping container villages for the homeless to letting developers wait to pay taxes and fees until the certificate of occupancy is signed.
But perhaps the solution that gets the most attention centers on the ADU, the Accessory Dwell Unit, more informally known as the "Granny Shack"—that backyard shed where Ma and Pa in their golden years can hunker down in the privacy of their children's backyard.
And that's the reason I've started this blog, not to provide a place for my mother and father, but to see if it's possible to build a livable space for my daughter who will be attending San Jose State in the Fall of 2020.
As a young adult attending a college that is all of seven blocks away, she's asked for a place of her own even if that place is but a whisper from her parents. And I understand that, understand the need for privacy, be it young or old, to have a place to live you can call your own.
So here we go, off to see if and ADU, or what we like to call "Sophia's Cottage" can be built in the Naglee Park neighborhood of downtown San Jose.
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