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Supporting a Better Affordable Housing Process

Case Study

Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections

An Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) in the backyard of a home surrounded by a fence and trees.
Carpenter building an ADU structure in a backyard.
A diagram illustrating the six-step construction journey for customers interested in building an ADU.

The Problem

Seattle wanted to improve housing affordability by making it easier to build Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) in single-family zones, with Mayor Jenny Durkan issuing an Executive Order in support. 

Accessory dwelling unit in the backyard of a home

ADUs, like basement suites, in-law apartments, and backyard cottages, are extra living spaces allowed in neighborhoods. They are cheaper housing and meet various household needs, such as downsizing or living with multiple generations.

Despite this, getting permits and building ADUs was still challenging, especially for individual property owners and small businesses. Problems like unclear rules, inconsistent communication, and scheduling difficulties slowed progress.

A diagram illustrating the six-step construction journey for customers interested in building an ADU: Research permit rules and process,

 The six-steps for building an ADU.

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To handle these issues, Seattle's Department of Construction and Inspections (SDCI) wanted to use data to improve clarity, accessibility, and communication throughout ADU inspections. This wasn’t just about making ADU construction easier but also about ensuring a better experience for everyone involved.

The Solution

Together with the SDCI team, Anthro-Tech planned to improve ADU inspections through human-centered design (HCD). To understand stakeholders’ experiences and identify their problems, we interviewed homeowners, contractors, architects, inspectors, managers, and administrative staff. 

A user persona diagram showing a typical scenario for permitting and construction of and ADU

Meet Contractor Charlie, a user persona representing one of the main groups involved in ADU permitting and construction. This persona explains their role, as well as their goals and expectations.

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Using customer journey maps and service blueprints, we showed the interactions and identified issues, connecting customer and staff frustrations. This also helped us find the issues’ causes, leading to a roadmap for improvement. Through workshops with staff, we used their expertise to prioritize solutions. As a result, SDCI is following these recommendations to make inspections easier, more accessible, and more efficient.

The Impact

Using human-centered design, SDCI is now supporting more affordable housing by simplifying processes for customers. Our work helped their team to better understand their customers and staff by surfacing employee frustrations and overlooked customer voices, ensuring critical issues were addressed.

SDCI is also using a roadmap to address a list of improvement opportunities by impact and effort. These changes will:

  • Help customers and be successful throughout inspections
  • Let staff focus on connecting with the public
  • Ensure people safely build more affordable housing across Seattle