Corpus Christi, TX Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

Corpus Christi's ADU allowance, added to the Unified Development Code by Ordinance 032357 on February 23, 2021, comes with an occupancy string attached. ' In practice that means at least one of the two units on the lot, either the main house or the garage apartment/ADU, has to be the titled owner's residence; the owner cannot move off the property entirely and lease both the house and the ADU to unrelated tenants. A: only one ADU is allowed per lot, its floor area is capped by zoning district, and it must meet the same yard and height limits as the main house.

A as a whole, and the owner-occupancy condition is enforced the same way as the size and setback standards in that section, through the building permit and certificate of occupancy process rather than a separate registration. The city's short-term rental ordinance separately treats an ADU as 'owner-occupied' for Type 1 short-term rental purposes only when the primary dwelling is occupied by the owner or a lease-holding operator with the owner's written permission, which is a distinct short-term rental classification rule, not the ADU zoning occupancy standard itself.