The home is only 745 square feet — the average size of a new one-bedroom apartment unit being built in Manteca.

But it has huge quality of life ramifications and financial benefits for the builder and major implications for the city’s future growth and its ability to provide attainable housing.

The home is an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) built by Tm and Jackie Bowers in the neighborhood bounded by Yosemite Avenue, Cottage Avenue, North Stret and Powers Avenue in central Manteca

It is where they have lived for 37 years in a home where they raised four sons.

The ADU they just completed on the quarter acre corner lot lends seamlessly into the design and color of their two-car garage. Jackie’s parents will move into the ADU from the current home they own in Modesto.

The Bowers are part of a small but growing trend of homeowners in Manteca taking advantage of new state laws and a streamlined city process to build ADUs that in another era were called granny flats.

Manteca issued five permits for ADUs in 2021. That amount more than  tripled to 16 last year when they started construction of their ADU in December.

“Working with the city has been great,” Tim said of the processing of the ADU permit.

The Bowers had approved plans back within 60 days of their submittal.

While their son Aaron drew the plans for their ADU,  the city now has several sets of plans that people can use instead for free to save money.

 At the same time, city fees for ADUs are reduced by roughly 25 percent from that they would have been charged for a home.

The fee reduction as well as the free plans complies with a state mandate that directed cities to remove barriers to building ADUs that can range from free-standing small homes on the same parcel to garage conversions

The rationale for the fee reduction is simple. By building ADUs in established neighborhoods, they can take advantage of existing infrastructure.

The 16 ADUs are a small sliver of the 888 free-standing homes that the city issued permits for in 2022. But it holds promise for the city being able to have affordable housing for younger workers as well as assure that those who are retired on fixed income can still afford to live in — and maintain — their homes.

Manteca’s ADU growth is more robust than the overall state average.

The California Department of Finance reported that in 2022, ADU permits jumped 60.6 percent That translates into 20,638 ADUs being built.

Jackie’s parents looked at options to downsize.

Assisting living facilities run as high as $4,000 to $5,000 a month.

The ADU allows them to be in close proximity to their daughter and son-in-law as they age. Both are in their late 80s.

The Bowers took out a loan against their home to fund the $140,000 ADU project.

The $500 monthly payment is manageable.

When  the time comes that the ADU is vacant, the Bowers plan to rent it out.

Topping their list of possible tenants are those who work through the Visiting Nurses contractual program at nearby Doctors Hospital of Manteca,

They are long-term renters. Several landlords rent homes in the neighborhood to nurses that work through the service.

At any rate, they expect to have problem renting the ADU.

If they were to rent the ADU, they could easily command $1,200 in today’s Manteca housing market. That would leave them with a $700 a month cash flow to argument their Social Security and retirement accounts.

The Bowers ADU consists of a great room that serves as a kitchen, dining area and a living room.

There is bedroom with a walk-in closet as well as a bathroom.

In addition, there is also a half bath with a laundry area.

They avoided having to invest in an expensive heating and air conditioning system with duct work by going with two “mini-splits” that effectively cool and heat the home.

They added a required off-street parking area for one vehicle as required by ADU rules.

The ADU faces the side street that runs by Bowers’ corner lot allowing the front door to open to the street.

Other homeowners that have built ADUs in the past few years in Manteca have done so to:

*Provide housing for elderly parents or adult children.

*Create rental income that, based on financing and the size of the unit, typically can provide a positive cash flow between $400 and $600 a month initially with that increasing as the housing market demand does.

*Build a smaller home as an ADU for themselves to move into to downsize while renting out their existing home to provide an even larger positive cash flow.

The ADUs are like infill housing projects but smaller.

That means they can already access existing parks, transit routes, schools, and other amenities such as shopping given older parts of cities typically are closer to shopping than new tract developments.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com