What if the mayor lived in your backyard?
That’s the case in Campbell, California, a small city just outside San Jose, where Susan Landry, who recently finished eight years as mayor and a city councilmember, lives in a 400-square-foot cottage in her landlord’s backyard.
As a local official, Landry, who’s a practicing landscape architect, pushed for more affordable housing, including more tiny homes like the one she’s lived in since 2013. She pays $1,800 a month in rent, which she considers a deal in her upscale neighborhood of single-family houses. It’s also reasonable given her income, which was about $95,000 last year.
She says renting makes a lot of sense when you’re older and don’t want to be burdened by the costs and responsibility of maintaining and paying off a home.
“The fact that you maybe have 10, 15 more good years, and then you probably will end up in some kind of assisted living or living with your kids, is it really worth the cost and expense to own versus rent?” she told Business Insider.
Outside of her landscaping projects, the 66-year-old is also developing a geometric puzzle board game, called Geozzle, and fills her free time with scrapbooking and quilting.
When Landry was married to her ex-husband and raising her daughter and two step-sons, owning a big house was nice, she said. But now that she’s older and single, she appreciates living in a smaller space with fewer possessions.
“As you get older and you get rid of your husband and kids and the cat, what do you really need a lot of room for?” she said.
Backyard cottages — also known as accessory dwelling units — have long been a popular form of housing for older people, earning them the nickname “granny flats.” They’re often single-story, accessible, and more affordable than typical single-family houses.
ADUs are low-hanging fruit in the fight against soaring housing costs. They offer a way to build small, relatively affordable homes in neighborhoods full of more expensive single-family houses on large lots. Business Insider has talked with homeowners who’ve built a backyard ADU for their aging parent, and those who’ve downsized into an ADU on their kid’s property.
Landry’s living quarters are small by most measures, but she said the high vaulted ceilings in the living room make the place feel spacious. She also has a patio, shares the backyard and vegetable garden with her landlord’s family, and has a designated off-street parking spot. Recently, she spent about $8,000 building a 70-square-foot “she shed” next to her home that she uses as her office.
She’s close friends with her landlord, who has two teenage daughters she’s watched grow up. She considers the family her “guardians” and finds it comforting to know they live so close by. “We basically have become family,” she said.
She also likes the freedom that comes with renting. Tying up her limited savings in a home purchase would make it harder to splurge on other luxuries, like travel.
She’s planning to work until she’s 70 and eligible for a larger Social Security check. She hopes the board game will take off and make one-off landscaping jobs unnecessary.
“I can’t afford yet to not work — I actually even like it,” Landry said.
“But if I’m looking at maybe three or four more years of working, I want to be traveling more. I want to see my daughter more.”
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