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City of Evanston (2020) Print
2020 AARP Community Challenge Grantee
Project Category
Housing
└ Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
└ Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
To help mitigate housing affordability challenges, the City of Evanston created a digital guide for homeowners looking to build accessory dwelling units to their property. Written in partnership with the Evanston Development Cooperative, the guide covers zoning, financing, design and construction, as well as information about who typically lives in ADUs. Additionally, the City hosted a webinar on ADU construction, which it recorded and posted on its website. In fall 2020, the City updated its ADU ordinance to give homeowners more flexibility, allowing them to create separate housing units either attached to or within their existing homes. Project organizers say the guidebook has helped spread the word about the update. ADU construction in Evanston has increased since the guidebook's publication and City has worked to make model ADU blueprints available to residents.
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See More Projects Like This One
Moro, OR
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: The City of Moro is working to update its zoning ordinance, allowing people to build a broader range of housing types. To assist homeowners interested in adding an accessory dwelling unit to their property, the City developed two sets of pre-approved construction plans for ADUs. Designed to cut down on permitting time and costs, the City provided the plans to residents at no cost. ADUs are small, additional dwelling units constructed on a property alongside a preexisting home.
Albany, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2023
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: This project will provide training and assistance to nonprofit organizations and community developers as part of an effort to increase the number of municipalities that permit accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in their zoning.
New York, NY
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2022
Project Category: Accessory dwelling units, tiny homes and manufactured housing
Description: This project highlighted the benefits of accessory dwelling units in a series of video interviews with older adults who live in ADUs or might benefit from doing so. The Regional Plan Association disseminated the interviews through social and traditional media.
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Evanston, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2025
Project Category: Digital navigation skills
Description: This project will feature an eight-workshop series called Connected and Confident: Tech Skills for Everyday Living to empower older adults with digital skills.
Wilmette, IL
AARP Community Challenge Grant Year: 2017
Project Category: Bikeability
Description: Environmental advocacy group Go Green Wilmette raised awareness of cycling through tactical urbanism, which involve short-term, low-cost changes meant to inspire longer-term improvements. The organization staged a village bicycle ride in partnership with the Wilmette Park District and Bike Wilmette. Along the route, the group installed a temporary protected bicycle lane. They did this using a pop-up toolkit they created, which includes planters, stencils and signs for use in temporary demonstrations. Go Green Wilmette later redeployed these items at school bike rodeo safety events and made them available to residents to use at block parties. In 2021, Wilmette's village board approved its Master Bike and Active Transportation Plan. Shaped by community input, the plan aims to improve pedestrian and cycling access to the Village's business district, parks, schools, transit stations and other destinations.
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