Jackson County, GA Accessory Structures: ADU Owner Occupancy (2026)

UDC Sec. 3-003(c) makes owner-occupancy a hard condition for an accessory manufactured home authorized for family care: the owner of the lot on which the primary dwelling and the accessory manufactured home sit must occupy either the primary dwelling or the accessory manufactured home as their principal place of residence. This closes off any arrangement where an absentee owner leases both units to unrelated tenants. Sec. 3-003(d) layers on a relationship test: the person with the medical hardship needing family care must be the owner/occupant of the lot or a relative of the owner/occupant, and if the hardship patient is the one who is the owner/occupant, then whoever lives in the other dwelling must be their relative, defined elsewhere in the section as extending no more than two generations or laterally no farther than sibling, niece or nephew.

The public development department checks this at both initial application and every annual renewal, since Sec. 3-003(n) requires renewal by March 31 each year with a fresh physician's letter confirming the hardship and the caregiving relationship still exist; if the owner-occupancy or relative relationship lapses, the renewal is denied and the manufactured home must come off the property within 30 days under Sec. 3-003(o).