People who live in healthy, affordable places live longer, healthier lives. One way low-income communities have been coping with the affordability crisis is by subdividing their single-family homes and converting their garages into second units to accommodate friends, relatives or renters. Second units have been a part of low-income communities before they became a trendy strategy to augment the much-needed supply of housing. Whether they were built to increase household income or house a relative, many of these units are unpermitted or non-compliant leading to health and safety hazards for existing tenants and in the event of a red-tag situation leaving the homeowner at risk of financial insecurity and the tenant without a place to call home. Read the full case study.