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Council directs study of single-room-occupancy units as permitted use to boost low-cost housing
Summary
Council unanimously initiated a UDO amendment to permit single-room-occupancy (SRO) residential buildings in specified districts. Sponsors and staff said SROs (small furnished units, shared kitchens/bathrooms, monthly or weekly rents) could expand lower-cost rental options; neighbors raised concerns about conversions, occupancy levels and enforcement.
The Common Council voted unanimously on Nov. 20 to ask the planning commission to prepare amendments to the Unified Development Ordinance to add single-room-occupancy (SRO) residential buildings as a permitted use.
Sponsor Council President Piedmont Smith said SROs — small furnished rooms with shared kitchen or bathroom facilities, often rented weekly or monthly — can provide very low-cost housing (the city’s Heading Home housing action plan specifically called for units renting for roughly $500 or less). Staff and council members said SROs may be delivered by new construction, conversions (hotels, YMCAs), or mixed-use projects, and could be designed to accommodate on-site or visiting support services for residents exiting homelessness.
Planning Director David Hittle and HAND Director Anna Killian Hansen told council the UDO’s current “residential rooming house” language does not accommodate modern SRO typologies because of owner-occupancy requirements and minimum-term rental language; a new or revised use category would allow staff and the planning commission to craft location and design standards and enforcement tools (including recorded affordability covenants and rental inspection oversight).
Public commenters acknowledged potential benefits but urged strict use-specific standards: limits on conversions of single-family houses in R-1/R-2 neighborhoods, occupancy caps, parking and trash-management requirements, and enforcement mechanisms to prevent exploitative, high-occupancy conversions. Staff affirmed these concerns will be part of the planning commission’s work. Resolution 2024-25 initiates a 60–90 day drafting period for the planning commission to prepare a recommendation, with the understanding that any eventual ordinance would return to the council for final action.
