- In 2023, Todd Kuchta built a 480-square-foot accessory dwelling unit in his backyard.
- He built the ADU for his son Jacob, who has autism and can not live entirely on his own.
- Kuchta said it was more affordable than buying a new home or renting an apartment in California.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Todd Kuchta, a 58-year-old engineer who built an accessory dwelling unit in his Californian backyard for his son, who has autism. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.
My wife and I live in Napa, California, with our 26-year-old son, Jacob. When he was five, he was diagnosed with autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Autism spectrums have a wide variety of traits. Many people are introverted and have difficulty with social interaction, which my son does, except that he's extremely extroverted.
Jacob is an enormous baseball fan. He will sit and talk to you ad nauseam about sports. He has a tremendous memory, so he can tell you about every single baseball game we've attended.
He's also bilingual. People think Napa is just wine country, but it all starts with farming, and the area has many Spanish speakers. We enrolled him in an immersion school, and he quickly picked up the language.
Jacob does live with many obstacles. He has not qualified for a job yet, so he is on disability, which provides funds for some living expenses — about $800 and $900 each month.
He doesn't drive and needs help cleaning, taking his medicine, shopping, and preparing meals. He needs our support because he cannot make typical adult decisions like managing finances or choosing where to live.
Still, he wants his independence.
Jacob wanted to move out
In time, my wife and I realized Jacob needed to move out.
We live in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house that's not very large, about 1,000 square feet on a 6,000-square-foot lot. It's a decent-sized property but not enormous.
When we bought our house in 1999, we paid $175,000. Today, it would sell for upward of $800,000.
That's the reality of the housing market in California. Buying a new house is very expensive unless you got into it before prices skyrocketed or are inheriting a property.
When we searched for properties, we could not find any homes with a separate ADU or living space. The ones that did have separate spaces were studios, often within a garage with a small kitchenette, but they were not full, separate living spaces.
The cost of these properties typically ran upward of $1.2 million.
If we sold our home and moved, we would also face increased property taxes, which could increase from around $3,000 a year to as much as $12,000 a year.
The other option we considered was supported housing. A doctor recommended a Napa facility with professionals living on campus that provide meals and help individuals with special needs take the next step toward independence.
Although the state provides funding for these services, it is limited, and many of the costs still fall on the families.
The kind of support Jacob needs, including having someone available 24 hours a day, is upward of $9,000 a month. Given that we are a single-income family, this is a significant portion of our income.
With this in mind, we knew we could not afford to have Jacob living in the facility. So, my wife and I instead considered building an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in our backyard.
We built an ADU in our backyard
Last year, we went to the county office to gather information about potential funding sources available to assist those with special needs and construction.
We discovered Napa County's Affordable ADU program — it's not the California ADU grant program. This program is meant to support housing and offers a forgivable loan if you rent a unit to low-income tenants for at least five years.
There were a couple of different construction options for building an ADU. You could either build it traditionally—clearing the land, pouring a foundation, and constructing the building on-site—or you could choose a manufactured home, where you clear the land, lay the foundation, and have the house delivered.
We decided to go with a manufactured home because it would take less time, and chose to work with Villa.
Villa buys the units and contracts workers to bring them on-site. They offer a variety of floor plans, and you can also choose the unit's finishes.
We submitted our construction plans to the city at the beginning of July 2023, broke ground at the end of October, and completed the unit by December.
In total, it cost us a little more than $248,000. Napa County provided $63,000 as a forgivable loan, and we worked with Redwood Credit Union, which provided an additional $160,000 loan as a second mortgage.
We used a portion of Jacob's disability income to help cover the ADU rent, which, in turn, offsets our monthly mortgage.
Jacob's home is perfectly suited for him
When Jacob's home was completed, our friends and fellow Jehovah's Witnesses got together to host a housewarming party for him.
The 480-square-foot ADU is a one-bedroom with a full bath and kitchen. We extended an existing deck in our backyard so you can walk directly from our back door into the unit.
Some of our friends suggested that we buy more than just the typical items for a house to make Jacob's home feel like it was truly his. The bathroom is gray and black because he's a Raiders fan, and we also made the rest of the home baseball-themed.
The main room, where the kitchen is located, is decorated in Phillies colors with red accents. The bedroom also features Raiders or Oakland A's colors, with green and gold themes.
Jacob really likes living on his own — he's thriving.
It gives him independence. In fact, he can listen to music as loud as he wants. Just a week and a half ago, he invited a group of friends over for dinner.
Jacob living on his own has made an enormous difference for our family.
Thanks to the state of California, it has also opened up additional disability services. One of these, Independent Living Services (ILS), provides a set number of hours a week for in-home assistance with Jacob. After moving out, he qualifies for Supported Living Services (SLS), which expands the number of hours he can get in-home support.
Now, he has an aide for eight hours a day during the week—something he couldn't have had if he were still living with us.
Additionally, my wife works as an IHSS (In-Home Support Services) provider. She is paid for assisting Jacob with tasks such as meal preparation, administering medication, and helping him get dressed.
Overall, our stress has significantly decreased, and we have peace of mind knowing we can still provide the necessary emotional support he needs.