God and the Granny Pod

Adult children sometimes build small homes for their parents as an alternative to putting them in a care facility. King David tries to take care of God in this way, and God says, “No!”

Juanita Ramirez [not her real name] lives in the Portland, Oregon, area. She has a 2-year-old daughter. And now she’s shopping for place to live — a place with some space, some land. Because she has a problem. Her mother.

The mother is not a bothersome problem, but she’s a concern. Ramirez now thinks it is time for mom to be closer to them. She wants to find a lot that will allow her to build her mom a small cottage. If she can do this, she will be able to take care of both her daughter and her aging mother as well.

She found a house with a nice, single-car garage on the lot. She’s going to convert that garage into a little cottage for mom.

She’s not the only one thinking of building a house for a parent. In fact, there’s a movement in this direction fueled in part by the high cost of care in an assisted living facility. These backyard homes, often called “granny pods,” are an alternative to putting an aging relative in a care home....