Los Angeles is undertaking a new effort to curb its ballooning homeless population—paying homeowners to build a 'granny flat' for a homeless family to inhabit in their backyard. According to CityLab, "The pilot, for which the county has earmarked $550,000, will grant two or three of such units in areas where zoning is managed by the county as officials assess whether to scale up in the future. It’s part of L.A. county’s broader initiative to address homelessness, in which 51 strategies—from opening up vacant lots for housing to subsidize housing—have been approved between 2016 and 2017."

During the next two months the county will flesh out the details with the hope of implementing the program within the next year and a half. Figuring out the rent and utilities costs is largely left up to the homeowners and their future tenants. 

A similar program has already been tested in Oregon’s Multnomah County in May, offering to build as many as 300 tiny homes—roughly 200 square feet. When the county made a call-out to interested homeowners, they received more than 1,000 responses. “There’s a bunch of research that says when we know somebody personally, we are much more able to see them as a human being, understand their struggles, and are much more predisposed to be in relationships with them,” Mary Li, director of the Multnomah Idea Lab (which runs the program), told Fast Company back in April.