Alameda County is developing a pilot program that would help older homeowners build accessory dwelling units on their property, move into the smaller homes and sell their original houses to pay construction costs and build financial reserves. The plan, part of the county’s Scalable Housing Infill Funding Toolkit, is intended to help seniors with valuable homes but limited income stay in their communities while making more homes available to buyers. County officials hope to start outreach to prospective participants in early 2027. The proposed process would draw on several state laws. Homeowners would build an ADU, then use Senate Bill 9 to divide their property into separate lots and sell the original house. Proposition 19 could allow eligible seniors to transfer their existing property-tax assessment to a replacement home, while provisions in state law have made ADU construction easier. Alameda County Housing Director Michelle Starratt said seniors expressed interest in building ADUs while the department was preparing a guide to the process. Many, she said, could not qualify for conventional loans despite owning substantial home equity. Renting out an ADU was also not a workable fit for some homeowners, given the responsibilities of becoming landlords. The approach could leave an older resident in a smaller, potentially more accessible home while creating an opportunity for a new family to buy the main house, Starratt said. But the arrangement could bring difficult trade-offs. Seniors may be uncomfortable living in a backyard unit while a new family occupies their longtime home, and selling means giving up an asset they might otherwise pass on to heirs. Buyers, meanwhile, could be uncertain about whether they are expected to help care for the older neighbor. There are legal and financial complications, too. Urban planning researcher Karen Chapple, who has studied SB 9, said some homeowners with outstanding mortgages have found that loan servicers resist lot splits and sales. A 2025 report she coauthored found that only 266 SB 9 projects had been permitted or completed statewide in the law’s first two years. The county is seeking an administrator to guide participants through the process and is considering potential legal and interpersonal problems as it shapes the pilot. Starratt said the county hopes to build 10 ADUs in the first phase and 50 within the next two years. The program is aimed at a housing challenge that often falls hardest on people with limited fixed incomes: having home equity but not enough cash or borrowing capacity to adapt a home for aging. Whether the model can work at scale will depend on the practical costs of construction, the lot-splitting process and whether seniors are willing to trade ownership of their original homes for a smaller place to live.