Shruti and Family
We really wanted our kids to grow up in a diverse environment, so our family moved from upstate New York to Livermore in 2017. We love the rolling hillsides and scenic beauty of the area and it’s been easy to make friends. I love working with children, and also wanted the flexibility of working and […]
Cat
When I was looking for a place of my own it was very challenging to find housing that fit my needs and was within my budget. I really wanted to stay in Alameda County but I was worried I wouldn’t be able to find a place that would allow my dog, Daisy, who has been with […]
Ashwath and Aditi
Ashwath I’ve lived in the South Bay with my wife for 25 years now, we raised our three daughters here. A couple years ago the City reached out to homeowners in the area to encourage us to build more housing and help address the affordability crisis. Los Altos Hills can be very expensive so we thought we would build the ADU […]
Julie and Tim
My husband was raising two boys full-time, and when we got married, the oldest had graduated from high school and the youngest wanted to go to boarding school. We told him if he could get himself in, he could go, and he did. Our house is on the small side, around 1100 square feet, but […]
Brenda and Donal
We moved into this house in 1967. Even back then we were seeing how hard it was getting to live and work in Marin. We were thinking about building an ADU for a while. We had a garage that was falling apart, but Donal was reluctant to give it up at first. What tipped him over was offering […]
Marian
Marian’s junior ADU project (see ADU 101 for a definition of junior ADU/JADU) started when three different friends asked to rent space in her three bedroom house. But she knew it was not for her. “It’s really hard to say, ‘I’m sorry, no’, but I tried having a roommate before and it did not work.” However, especially after the fires, Marian […]
Bill and Ruthie
Half Moon Bay homeowners Bill and Ruthie are like many other couples looking to set their adult children up for success when they are gone. But their days are packed with even more emotion than most parents: their 33-year-old son, Alex, has severe developmental disabilities. They knew they needed to create some distance between themselves […]
Victor and Clarissa
Buying a house is never easy. And buying a house on the Peninsula with sky-high real estate prices that go hand-in-hand with the pleasant climate, first-class parks and spirit of innovation can pose a special challenge. Victor dreamed of buying a home and living on the Peninsula but found the steep price tag daunting. So, he found […]
Anna and Veronica
It was the letter every renter in the bay area dreads and Anna knew instantly she would not be able to afford her apartment. She had just learned a new building owner planned to double the rent. Retired and living on a fixed income, Anna did not know what to do. She headed to her daughter Veronica’s house, down the road in Pacifica, for a chat. “I […]
Surinder
Our kids went away to college, and when we looked out at our yard, we saw opportunity. We knew the space next to our house could be transformed into an income-generating second unit. We had some concerns — we’d need to give up our garden, and share our lot with people didn’t know. These concerns […]