Much Ado About ADUs: Framingham Considering In-Law Apartments

FRAMINGHAM, MA — There's an apartment ban in place in Framingham right now, but the city is also considering a new law that would allow in-home apartments.

The Planning Board on Thursday will hold a workshop on a proposed accessory dwelling unit (ADU) zoning ordinance. Under the law, single-family homeowners could get a special permit to construct in-home apartments where either family members or caretakers could live.

ADUs, also called in-law apartments, typically have a bathroom, kitchen and living spaces like regular apartments, but are contained inside an existing single-family home. ADUs are often used as an alternative to assisted-living facilities for older relatives.

ADUs are sometimes used as long or short-term rentals, and often appear on apps like Airbnb. But the law proposed in Framingham, modeled after one in Hopedale, allows ADUs to only be used by people "related by blood, adoption, or marriage, or ... an individual hired to provide medical assistance, custodial care, or child care to one or more individuals in the other unit."

The virtual ADU workshop will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday. You can read the background materials on Framingham's proposed ADU law here.