They were spending all their income on rent. A garage turned ADU saved them
Six years after meeting as students at UC Berkeley, Nadine Levyfield and Charlie Marshak were excited to reconnect romantically in Los Angeles as professionals â Marshak as a data scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La CaĂąada Flintridge and Levyfield as a career services technician at Glendale Community College.
The long-term planners' enthusiasm faded a bit, however, after moving into their first apartment together in Echo Park.
"We were spending all of our money on rent," Levyfield says of the 100-year-old Craftsman she describes as an illegally subdivided dwelling that was plagued by mold, poor ventilation and mice.
Record-low mortgage rates and the pandemic may have prompted reluctant to take the plunge recently, but across the country, and in Los Angeles in particular, means that many young couples can't save for a down payment on a, some millennials are having to get creative, and are choosing to live in , or ADUs, as a way to live near their families, in neighborhoods where they grew up, and can't afford.
