2026年5月17日 / 美国东部时间上午9:15 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
2020年阿尔梅达大火席卷俄勒冈州南部的罗格谷时，烧毁了数千套房屋。其后果不仅是留下一片焦土，更在本已紧张的租赁市场之上，催生了一场住房危机。
阿德里兹·拉蒂夫/路透社
艺术家兼承包商雅各布·弗莱和妻子伊莉兹虽幸免于火灾，却没能打消帮助他人的念头。
他们必须有所行动，于是贷款在自家院子里建造了两套小型租赁单元。雅各布表示，这从来不是为了赚钱：“更多是为了社区，为了那些流离失所的人提供补充住房，这才是最主要的目的。”
这类住房被称为ADU，即附属住宅单元——指建在主住宅同一地块上的小型全功能次级住宅，通常位于后院。它们也被称作奶奶公寓、马车房或岳母套房。一波改革浪潮让在几乎任何地方增建这类ADU变得更快、更便宜，且（理论上）法律流程也更简便。
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在加利福尼亚州，如今单户住宅地块上至少允许建造三套小型住宅。这些单元不得用作短期租赁（即禁止 Airbnb 短租），法律仅允许长期租户入驻——这已成为一个蓬勃发展的行业。
“这比过去10到12年里任何其他住房法案的影响都要大，”加州大学洛杉矶分校建筑与城市设计教授达娜·卡夫说道，她曾助力推动最初的立法。据她介绍，目前加州已有8.2万份建筑许可。
《周日早间新闻》在她的ADU里见到了卡夫，这个单元就建在原本的后院区域。“这里大概原本有一棵半死的柑橘树，还有给孩子们建的树屋，”她说，“你知道吗，建这栋房子的时候我们确实失去了一些东西，但我们收获的更多。”
他们将主住宅租给大多刚起步的年轻租户，而自己则住在丈夫设计的ADU里，这套单元如同俄罗斯方块般巧妙地适配了他们狭长的地块。“城市扩张已经走到了尽头，”卡夫说道，“你不能再一味向外扩张了。所以，从环境、住房和城市规划的角度来看，其美妙之处在于我们开始向内开发。”
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提到在后院建房，反对“别建在我家后院”的批评声不绝于耳，这并不令人意外。一些人认为，为单户住宅设计的停车、污水和垃圾处理基础设施正被过度挤占。但在俄勒冈州那场火灾过后，弗莱夫妇看到了机会。
“都说要考验婚姻，就去买宜家家具，”雅各布说道，“那我的反击是：去建一套ADU！”
结果证明这没问题——弗莱夫妇的婚姻经受住了考验，ADU的租赁收入也不成问题。事实上，这些建筑几乎已经收回了建造成本，尽管他们一直以远低于市场的价格出租。
“我们希望租金保持实惠，这样就能让那些未必能从靠谱房东那里租到合适房子的人住进来，”雅各布说。
伊莉兹·弗莱表示：“现在住在那里的租户都是年轻的新婚夫妇，他们二十出头，刚结婚不久。”
诚然，这是紧凑的居住空间，但如果设计得当，ADU的实际观感会比听起来宽敞得多。“完美极了，”凯蒂奥娜·鲍泽-史密斯说道。她、贾里德·韦伯和他们9个月大的女儿米勒已经在这400平方英尺的空间里幸福地生活了近三年。
“我们也曾试着看看其他房源，哪怕只是了解一下市场上还有什么选择，但都没有能和我们现在这套媲美的，”鲍泽-史密斯说。
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她表示，如果没有ADU这个选项，他们可能还住在双方父母家里。
在沿海的洛杉矶，72岁的莫娜·菲尔德将她的车库——她称那里曾被“所有人和他们的兄弟用来储物”——改造成了一套两居室的ADU。但她建造这个ADU并不是为了出租，而是为了自己。“我不想一辈子都独自住在一栋大房子里变老，”她说，“我一点都不觉得拥挤，对我这个老太太来说，空间足够多了！”
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这套ADU成为了她的退休居所，也让她得以将主住宅作为经济适用房，租给自己的女儿一家：娜丁·莱维菲尔德、她的丈夫查理·马沙克，还有他们的两个年幼孩子。但仍有一个几乎所有涉足ADU领域的人都会问的问题。“即便我们有独立的空间，我们真的能在同一块土地上和谐共处、互不打扰吗？”马沙克问道。
至少对他们来说，答案是响亮的“能”。
“我们会定期和我妈妈还有孩子们一起吃晚餐，”莱维菲尔德说，“我妈妈会帮忙照看孩子，我们会共度时光。我们会说‘嘿，要不要一起去推婴儿车散步？’，这太棒了。我们非常感激。”
过去，郊区带有白色尖桩篱笆和双车位车库的房子是所有人的梦想。如今，人们对住房的需求超过了对汽车的需求，后院烧烤或许并不需要一整片后院。它们可能并不适合所有人，但如今每一寸空间都至关重要。ADU为不同时代的人们提供了一种全新的生活方式。
正如达娜·卡夫教授所言：“我们必须开始想象新的、更和谐的共同生活方式。”
Is the answer to the housing crunch right in your own backyard?
May 17, 2026 / 9:15 AM EDT / CBS News
When the Almeda Fire tore through the Rogue Valley in Southern Oregon back in 2020, it took thousands of homes with it. The result wasn’t just a moonscape, but a housing crisis on top of an already-tight rental market.
Gutted homes in the Medford Estates neighborhood in the aftermath of the Almeda fire, in Medford, Oregon, Sept. 10, 2020. ADREES LATIF/REUTERS
Artist and contractor Jacob Fry, and his wife Elize, were spared the flames, but not the desire to help.
They had to do something, so they took out a loan to build two small rental units in their own yard. It was never about getting income, Jacob says: “It was more about the community and needing infill housing for people that had been displaced; that really was the main thing.”
They’re called ADUs, or Accessory Dwelling Units – small, fully-functional secondary homes located on the same property as a main home, usually in the backyard. They’ve been called granny flats, carriage houses, or mother-in-law suites. A wave of reforms has made it faster, cheaper, and (in theory) legally simpler to add these ADUs almost anywhere.
Jacob and Elize Fry built two ADUs in their backyard, which they’ve rented out to young families just starting out. CBS News
In California, at least three modest-sized units are now allowed on a single-family lot. They can’t be used as short-term rentals (so, no Airbnbs). The law allows for only long-term tenants – and it’s become a booming industry.
“It’s had more impact than any other housing law in the last 10, 12 years,” said Dana Cuff, professor of Architecture and Urban Design at UCLA, who helped push through the original legislation. According to her, there are now 82,000 building permits right now in California.
“Sunday Morning” met Cuff in her ADU, constructed in what used to be her backyard. “There was kind of a half-dead citrus tree probably right here, and a treehouse for our kids,” she said. “You know, we did lose something in building the house. But we gained a lot more.”
They rent their original home to mostly young tenants just starting out, and they live in the ADU designed by her husband to fit like a Tetris piece onto their long, skinny lot. “Sprawl has hit the wall now,” said Cuff. “You can’t keep going out. So then, I mean, the beauty of that, from an environmental and a housing and an urban perspective, is that then you start building back in.”
Dana Cuff now lives in an ADU constructed in her backyard, while renting out the main house. CBS News
It will come as no surprise when you’re talking about building in backyards that there are plenty of not-in-my-backyard critics. Some argue that parking, sewer and garbage – the infrastructure designed for single-family homes – is being stretched too thin. But in the aftermath of those Oregon fires, the Frys saw an opportunity.
“They say if you want to test your marriage, buy IKEA furniture,” said Jacob. His retort? “Built an ADU!”
It worked out – the Frys’ marriage survived, and so did the rental income from the ADUs. In fact, the buildings have almost paid for themselves, even though they continue to rent them well below market value.
“We want things to be affordable so that we can get people in that might not otherwise get a decent situation with a decent landlord,” said Jacob.
Elize Fry said, “Both the tenants that live there now are, like, young newlyweds. They’re in their early 20s and they both just got married.”
It’s compact living, to be sure, but if you design an ADU right, it can feel much bigger than it sounds. “It’s perfect,” said Kaetriauna Bowser-Smith. She, Jared Weber, and their nine-month-old daughter, Miller, have been living in these 400-square-feet happily for nearly three years now.
“We’ve tried to look at other places, just to even see what there is still on the market, and there’s nothing comparable to what we have,” said Bowser-Smith.
Jared Weber, Kaetriauna Bowser-Smith, and Miller in their ADU. CBS News
She said that were it not for the ADU option, they’d probably still be living at their parents’ houses.
Down the coast in Los Angeles, 72-year-old Mona Field turned her garage (which she said was being used for “everybody and their brother’s storage”) into a two-bedroom ADU. But she didn’t build the ADU for tenants; she built it for herself. “I knew I did not want to stay aging in a big house by myself,” she said. “I don’t feel cramped at all. I feel like I have a lot of space for one old lady!”
Mona Field converted her garage into an ADU, for herself. CBS News
The ADU was her retirement home, which allowed her to offer her house as affordable housing for her daughter and her family: Nadine Levyfield, her husband, Charlie Marshak, and their two small kids. But there was still a question, one asked by almost everyone in the ADU space. “Even though we had separate spaces, would we be able to, you know, cohabitate on the same property in a functional way?” asked Marshak.
The answer, for them anyway, has been a resounding yes.
“We have regular standing dinners with my mom and the kids,” said Levyfield. “My mom helps with child care. We spend time together. We say, ‘Hey, do you wanna join us for a stroller walk?’ It’s amazing. We’re so grateful.”
It used to be a home in the suburbs with a white picket fence and two-car garage was all anyone would want. Today, people need housing more than cars, and backyard barbecues might not need an entire backyard. They may not be for everyone, but these days every square foot matters. ADUs offer a different lifestyle for a different age.
As professor Dana Cuff put it, “We have to start imagining new ways of living together well.”
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