91视频

A local start-up developer of accessory homes is embarking on a .

Dweller, led by Portland’s Patrick Quinton, is using Small Change, an investment platform that promotes social responsibility. Small Change allows accredited and nonaccredited investors to put money into a portfolio of vetted real estate projects in urban neighborhoods.

Dweller will use the investment to build up to eight accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

Quinton founded Dweller in 2017 after stepping down as executive director of the Portland Development Commission (now Prosper Portland).

To date, Dweller has developed 10 ADUs with what Quinton calls a deferred ownership model. It allows ADUs to be built next to single-family homes with no upfront cost in exchange for a long-term ground lease. Dweller owns and operates the rental units. Homeowners receive 25 percent of the rent and have the option of buying the ADUs later.

Quinton, in an interview, said the business model is amenable to crowdfunding.

鈥淲e felt like what we were doing was well-suited to what we were seeing on the real estate crowdfunding side,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e also weren’t finding that many traditional lenders and investors understood the business model that we had or were willing to be aggressive in terms of putting their money into the ADU market.鈥�

Rents for Dweller’s units built to date average about $1,250. The new round of ADUs will be affordable to renters at 80 percent of area median income, Quinton said.

Dweller was selected in 2019 by the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California, Berkeley, to participate in the first cohort of its Housing Lab program.

The company’s investment round comes as Portland prepares to implement the Residential Infill Project; zoning rule changes are set to take effect Aug. 1, 2021. The initiative will loosen single-family zoning to make it easier to build ADUs, duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in much of the city.

鈥淚t opens up more sites for us,鈥� Quinton said. 鈥淧ortland was already way ahead of the curve in terms of the ADU code. We didn’t feel really constrained.鈥�