City hosting ADU Design Competition, with call for designs now open

With funding provided by AARP, the City is hosting an Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Design Competition.

The competition invites professionals and students to create detached Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) designs that support aging in place. In Cedar Rapids, an estimated 35% of residents are age 50 or older. The ADU Design Competition is an opportunity to highlight ADUs as a viable housing option, foster a culture of age-friendly design, empower older residents to remain in their homes, and create a more inclusive, livable community for generations to come.

Call for ADU Designs

The Cedar Rapids ADU Design Competition Call for Designs is now open. The City seeks context-sensitive, flexible, resilient, and cost-effective detached ADU designs that support aging in place.

The competition is open to all professionals (architects, building designers, manufacturers, homebuilders, construction companies, creatives, etc.) and students (college students in a design related field or trade program). Those interested in submitting should review our eligibility requirements and Submission Guide.

Submissions are due October 9, 2026, and can be submitted online.

Seven winners will be selected by a panel of local judges, including representation from a local non-competing professional; City staff; housing agencies; and older adult community members.

Five winners will be selected from the professional category and will receive an award of $3,600 each. Two additional winners will be selected from the student category with an award of $1,500 each.

Professional designers whose submissions are selected as winners must agree to work with City staff to further develop their concepts to a level suitable for permit review. This collaboration helps ensure that promising concepts can continue to grow and move toward real-world implementation.

Information Session

City Staff will host a virtual ADU Design Competition information session on Monday, August 24, 2026, at 3:00 pm (CT). Registration for the information session is required. We will post answers to questions raised at the information session on our ADU Design Competition platform.

About Accessory Dwelling Units

Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are residential dwelling units that provide complete independent living facilities on the same parcel as a single-unit dwelling. They offer a flexible, lower-cost housing option that can help address the growing housing needs in communities like Cedar Rapids. ADUs can be:

• Internal (e.g., basement, attic, or side-by-side units)
• Attached (e.g., additions to the main house)
• Detached (e.g., backyard cottages or garage conversions)

ADUs were first permitted in Cedar Rapids in 2019 to support expanded housing options and affordability. At that time, only one ADU was permitted per lot and there were restrictive size requirements. Over the years, the City's ADU requirements have been amended to allow for more flexibility including larger ADU sizes, removing the need for a conditional use permit, and allowing two ADUs per lot.

In 2025 the State of Iowa took interest in ADUs. Now, under Iowa law, homeowners are permitted by right to add ADUs to their properties without needing special approval from a local zoning or planning board. Local governments are also unable to place requirements on ADUs that are stricter than those applied to the primary single-family home. The local and statewide support for ADUs supports opportunities for aging in place, intergenerational living, and boosting the local housing supply without altering neighborhood character.

Learn more about ADUs in Cedar Rapids on the City's ADU webpage or from AARP.

This project was made possible through the support of AARP through the 2026 AARP Community Challenge grant. The AARP Community Challenge is a grant program to make tangible improvements in communities that jump-start long-term change. It is part of AARP's nationwide Livable Communities initiative, which supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for people of all ages. To learn more, visit AARP.org/Livable.