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Seventy-four-year-old Viktor Vasyliev — arms outstretched and smiling broadly — greeted Raul Villagra and his spouse, Cristina Araya, with a heat embrace.
Standing close by, his daughter Alina Vasyliev shook her head and laughed. “My father would have by no means kissed anybody ‘hiya’ earlier than he met Raul and Cristina,” she stated. “It’s like this each weekend at our home: My mother and father converse Russian. My in-laws converse Spanish. However one way or the other they convey.”
The three households have been lingering contained in the accent dwelling unit, or ADU, positioned behind Alina and Daniel Villagra’s newly constructed dwelling within the Los Angeles space.
The ADU has grow to be a means for the couple to assist others — not solely their mother and father but additionally, for a time frame, Ukrainian refugees. At some point, the hope is that the 2 units of in-laws will share the ADU so all 4 might be near their kids and grandchildren.
“I needed my children to have the ability to expertise their grandparents — one set from Chile; the others from Ukraine,” stated Alina, who’s 41. “They will study a lot from them — Spanish and Russian — whereas experiencing the privilege of getting their grandparents shut.”
For now, solely Viktor and his spouse, Olha (pronounced Olga) Vasylyeva, 73, reside within the 1,100-square-foot ADU. Shortly after they moved in final March — earlier than the principle home was completed — the household opened their doorways to pals escaping the battle in Ukraine.
“We flew seven individuals from Ukraine to the humanitarian border in Tijuana,” stated Alina, who was born in Russia and grew up in Ukraine. “My buddy and her husband, her mother and father, her brother and her two children. I put three individuals in our home close by and 4 within the ADU with my mother and father.” They stayed for six months till all of them discovered jobs and housing.
Because the household redefined what multigenerational residing means by way of family and friends, the ADU grew to become greater than a house. It grew to become a sanctuary.
Nonetheless reeling from the trauma of battle, Ihor (pronounced Igor), who requested that his final title not be used out of concern for his household’s security in Ukraine, described the surreal expertise of relocating to Los Angeles: “One particular person was residing within the kitchen, three slept in a single bed room.” Nonetheless, he stated, strolling the streets of Los Angeles “felt like paradise. I’d stroll Bruno [the family dog] and take footage of every little thing. Timber, mountains, even the submit workplace. The whole lot is so stunning right here in Los Angeles.”
Alina confused, as did Daniel, the significance of supporting refugees. It’s exhausting to get individuals to know that refugees are similar to us, she stated. “They’re hard-working, good individuals who simply want a lift to get began. Persons are scared to hire to them. Once they arrived, they didn’t have a credit score rating or references to discover a job or an condominium. The whole lot is a problem for them. Folks shouldn’t be afraid to assist them.”
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When the refugees arrived, building on the principle home, landscaping and fencing was stopped. In February, Alina and Daniel and their two kids moved into the newly constructed 3,200-square-foot home in entrance, which now serves as a hub for his or her prolonged household. The couple goals so as to add a pool and landscaping in time, however for now, the initiatives are on maintain till they’ll save up the cash.
In 2018, the couple paid $840,000 for the two-bedroom one-bathroom Spanish dwelling and proceeded so as to add the ADU, which price round $160,000. After the ADU was completed, the property was reassessed for $1.6 million, which helped them safe a house fairness mortgage to interchange the Spanish dwelling with the brand new major home.
You may assume that three generations residing collectively, together with a refugee household, would show traumatic. As a substitute, the ADU has introduced the households nearer collectively.
“I really like with the ability to hang around with them,” David Villagra, 12, stated of residing close to his grandparents. “I missed them after we lived aside.”
His 2-year-old sister, Bianka, echoed his sentiments as she smiled with delight as she was handed from one adoring grandparent to a different. “Que linda,” murmured Raul, because the 75-year-old minister gave her a hug.
Ultimately, Alina and Daniel hope state legal guidelines change to allow them to legally divide the prevailing ADU and their mother and father can reside as neighbors. Architect Sevak Karabachian, who designed the fashionable dwelling, stated that more and more relaxed state rules for constructing an ADU might make it a risk “before later.”
“Whereas at present a couple of ADU per lot is simply allowed for current multi-dwelling tons — which this venture will not be, it’s single-family — we needed to make a plan that’s simply modifiable if and when the legal guidelines grow to be extra lenient and permit a couple of ADU on giant tons,” Karabachian stated. “From the seems of it, it appears we’re virtually there because the constructing codes have gotten extra pleasant in the direction of ADUs.”
When that day comes, he stated, dividing the prevailing ADU into two separate models can be achievable by merely including a double-stud 2-by-4 wall with an inch hole in between the 2 models in addition to ample acoustic insulation to soak up sound and provide privateness.
With that in thoughts, Karabachian designed either side of the ADU to reflect the opposite: two entrance doorways, residing rooms, laundry rooms, loos, skylights and bedrooms. For now, there is just one prefab kitchen, however there may be room so as to add one other one if crucial.
As a lot as Alina needed this residing association to learn her kids, she additionally needed to supply reasonably priced housing for her mother and father. “They’re retired and don’t actually have any financial savings,” she stated. “It’s a lot much less traumatic for them now as a result of they don’t need to pay for housing.”
Daniel, 43, who’s an insurance coverage agent who works with Medicare enrollees, feels equally about his mother and father. “Our pals inform us we’re loopy to wish to have all of our mother and father residing with us,” he stated. “However my mother and father are … residing in a two-story townhouse in West Covina. My dad has fallen on the steps. He must reside in a one-story dwelling.”
The couple didn’t develop up close to their grandparents. When she lived in Ukraine, Alina recalled, she took day-long practice journeys to Russia in an effort to go to her grandmother. Daniel noticed his grandparents every year in the course of the summer time in Chile.
Having her mother and father within the yard is a “dream come true,” Alina stated. “Not only for me. However for my children.”
Requested if she would sponsor extra refugees, Alina didn’t hesitate.
“Extra individuals have texted me from Ukraine and instructed me that they wish to come too,” she stated, including that she’s began a nonprofit referred to as Pals of Ukraine Basis which gives help to Ukrainian refugees who’re in america.
In the meantime, the couple is at present within the allowing course of for an additional ADU down the road the place they used to reside within the hopes of offering extra housing for his or her pals in Ukraine.
“I don’t actually have house proper now,” Alina stated. “However I can’t say no.”
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