![](\"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.net\/image\/upload\/w_596,c_limit,q_auto:best,f_auto\/wp-cms\/uploads\/2019\/08\/i-1-90386799-this-startup-wants-to-build-a-free-tiny-house-in-your-backyard.jpg\")
Rent the Backyard will get a tiny house into your backyard in a matter of weeks\u2014and hopes it can add some cheaper apartments in cities to help alleviate the housing crisis.<\/p>\n
In cities with housing shortages, little room to build, and opposition to new construction, building small cottages in backyards can be one way to add new apartments quickly. One new startup wants to help it happen even faster: The company handles the cost and construction process for homeowners in exchange for a cut of the rent when a tenant moves in.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, to build an accessory dwelling unit is a huge process,\u201d says Spencer Burleigh, cofounder of Rent the Backyard, a Bay Area-based startup in the current cohort at the tech accelerator Y Combinator. \u201cYou have to talk with the city and deal with the permits. And even if you can find a great builder that is able to do a lot of those steps for you, you\u2019re still fronting a whole lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
In California, changes in the state law in 2017 made it easier to build backyard units by reducing excessive fees from utilities and saying that homeowners wouldn\u2019t need to include an extra parking space for a backyard home if they live near public transit. In Los Angeles, the city\u2019s innovation team helped build a prototype backyard home to learn how to streamline the local process. The number of permits issued for the houses grew; in the Bay Area, around 400 units were approved in 2016, and 1,598 in 2017. But that\u2019s still a tiny fraction of the 500,000-plus homes that, by some estimates, need to be built over the next 15 years to keep up with demand.<\/p>\n