• Helen Boxwill, 77, refinanced her home to build an accessory dwelling unit on her New York property.
• She rents out the ADU for rental income and has had three tenants over about 20 years. 
• Boxwill said the ADU "has been a blessing" whose revenue helped pay taxes and other bills.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Helen Boxwill, a 77-year-old retired educator who runs a nonprofit that supports education and water access in Ethiopia and Burundi. Boxwill built an accessory dwelling unit on her property in Huntington, New York, in 2003. The essay has been edited for length and clarity.

I bought my house for $145,000 in 1989. It had three bedrooms and one and a half baths, with a living room, kitchen, and a bedroom downstairs.

In 2003, I decided to add an ADU to my home. I was a single parent and retiring, so I knew that my income stream would be different. I thought that renting out the ADU would be economical, and maybe there was a possibility that my mother or another family member would eventually want to live there.

At the time, there were no programs available for assistance. Now, however, there are new laws to help homeowners finance construction — and I’m jealous.

Back then, I remortgaged my house and took out some extra money to renovate and build the ADU. In all, I spent about $25,000 on construction. 

Over the years, I’ve had only three tenants. Their rent has helped me almost pay off my 30-year mortgage, and has covered property taxes and escrow.

Even though rent does not increase like inflation, it has been very helpful in alleviating worries about paying bills, and has given me extra income.

I had to ask my neighbors for approval to build an ADU

My home is located in a neighborhood where we're not allowed to have too many ADUs; we can only have one every quarter of a mile. Fortunately, building an ADU on my property was allowed under the law.

I was very excited to build. The only challenge was getting a good contractor and having to deal with town regulations. 

In 2003, to build an ADU in my area, they could only be a certain number of square feet, and homeowners were required to have smoke and carbon monoxide detectors installed throughout the home. Additionally, homeowners weren't allowed to have more than one car.

You also had to mail out a postcard letting neighbors within a certain distance know that you would be building an ADU on your property. If they objected, they were encouraged to come forward at a hearing to dispute it.

For me, it worked out fine because nobody was really concerned.

The ADU took about three months of on-and-off construction to complete. It ended up costing a little more than I initially expected because I had to add a cesspool and construct a shed on my property.

Before renovations, the living space was a typical single-car garage. However, I extended it by about five feet to create one long unit.

It has a small bedroom with a closet at the front, followed by a living and dining area, and then a galley kitchen. It also has a bathroom with a shower. Outside, there’s a private fenced-in patio where people can sit, barbecue, or hang out with friends.

I keep rent pretty affordable 

I charge my tenants $1,100 a month in rent, which is very low for New York. It's only increased by about $100.

When choosing tenants, I go through a real-estate broker who screens and checks their credit reports. I want renters that are reliable and employed. I don't want to deal with kicking somebody out if they haven't paid rent or if they damage the home.

There’s really one rule for renting here: No smoking in the house.

I've been very fortunate to have tenants who are 50 and over, so they don't throw parties or anything. They're usually quiet and just go to work and come home. 

Of course, there are additional costs that come with having an ADU. With someone else using water and electricity, the bills are higher. You also have to make repairs, like if the stove breaks. I've also had to purchase a new refrigerator. And when someone moves out, you have to repaint.

I think New York’s new ADU program is great 

The cost of living has continued to increase since I retired 20 years ago, so my ADU has been a blessing. 

I have something that helps me with costs, and I'm also providing a home for people that are in need of affordable housing — it's a win-win. 

I also think the neighborhood benefits from ADUs and their tenants. The people we rent to are hardworking and contributing to our community. They are needed.

I think New York’s new ADU incentive is great — and I wish this would have happened a lot sooner. It would have been very helpful. 

Long Island's population has continued to grow, and so have home prices. I just read an article in a local newspaper that said the average home here is going for $600,000.

There aren't many places where young people can afford to live, and many older people have had to move to other states due to high costs.

I've heard that in some communities, people are asking, “How come we don't have this here?” and “We want this here.” If there had been programs to help people build ADUs a long time ago, that would have been a huge benefit to our community on so many levels.

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