ADU Pass
Hendry County
ADU Pass helps homeowners in Hendry County, Florida navigate the permit paperwork for building an accessory dwelling unit. We cover 4 cities and 4 ZIP codes in this county.
Map
County ADU details
County ADU ordinance
Hendry County is a rural inland south-Florida county (population ~42,000, LaBelle is the county seat) with a non-charter commission form of government. The economy is dominated by sugarcane (U.S. Sugar Corporation, based in Clewiston), citrus, cattle, and winter vegetable production. The Hendry County Land Development Code (LDC), administered by the Planning & Community Development Department, governs unincorporated land use and applies to most of the county's area. The LDC does NOT contain a standalone ADU ordinance; accessory dwellings are handled through the A-1 Agricultural district (second dwelling allowed on parcels >=5 acres as accessory to an ag operation, typically for farmworker or family housing), A-2 Agricultural Residential, and R-1/R-2 residential districts (guest houses <=800 sqft without full kitchen broadly permitted, second full dwellings require conditional-use approval). Hendry is notably heavy on mobile-home and manufactured-home housing — 30%+ of county housing stock is mobile/manufactured — and the LDC explicitly permits mobile-home second dwellings and farmworker barracks in several districts. No standalone ADU rulemaking is pending as of 2026-04-20.
County permitting (unincorporated parcels)
Almost all of Hendry County's developable area is unincorporated — the two municipalities (LaBelle, Clewiston) together cover under 10 square miles of a ~1,200 sq mi county. ADU-adjacent construction is permitted by the Hendry County Building Department (part of Development & Environmental Services) at the county government complex in LaBelle. Hendry uses the Florida Building Code as adopted without material local amendments. The department handles substantial mobile-home / manufactured-home permit volume (installation, tie-down, skirting) alongside stick-built permits. Typical single-family / accessory-dwelling permit review runs 3-6 weeks; mobile-home placement permits (common for farmworker-housing additions) run faster (1-3 weeks).
County assessor
Hendry County property assessment is performed by the Hendry County Property Appraiser, an elected constitutional officer operating out of the county government complex in LaBelle. The appraiser maintains parcel records for all ~30,000 parcels in the county — but of those, a large share are agricultural (Greenbelt-classified sugar, citrus, cattle, and row-crop parcels) with comparatively few rooftop-residential homesteads. Standard Florida rules apply: Save Our Homes (F.S. 193.155) 3% homestead cap, 10% non-homestead-residential cap (F.S. 193.1554), new-construction carve-out for ADU additions, agricultural classification (F.S. 193.461 Greenbelt). Farmworker-housing carve-out under ag classification is the most consequential ADU-related assessment rule here given the county's ag economic base.
Assessment policy: Standard Florida new-construction assessment at full just value; subsequent 3% / 10% cap. Mobile-home second dwellings are assessed separately from site-built dwellings under F.S. 193.075 (real property if permanently affixed, tangible personal property if not) — the appraiser's treatment can vary by parcel circumstances. Farmworker housing on ag parcels may fall under the F.S. 193.461 ag-classification ancillary-use carve-out, assessed at ag rates rather than as a separate residential improvement. This is the single most consequential assessment rule for ADU-like structures in Hendry County.
County overlays (6)
Hendry County's county-wide overlays relevant to ADU siting: (1) FEMA SFHAs concentrated along the Caloosahatchee River corridor, Lake Okeechobee shoreline (northeast corner), and canal systems; (2) Lake Okeechobee Service Area regulatory overlay (northeast Hendry) with SFWMD stormwater and BMAP requirements; (3) SFWMD jurisdiction county-wide including Everglades restoration easements on some southwestern parcels; (4) Florida Panther Focus Area (federally designated critical habitat for the Florida panther) covering portions of southwestern Hendry, requiring USFWS consultation for some development; (5) Seminole Tribe trust lands in the Big Cypress Reservation (southeastern Hendry) — NOT under county jurisdiction, separate tribal land-use authority; (6) Florida Building Code 140-150 mph design-wind-speed region (non-HVHZ) with hurricane-zone construction. No seismic, no coastal-commission.
- Caloosahatchee River / Lake Okeechobee FEMA Special Flood Hazard Areas
- Lake Okeechobee Basin Management Action Plan (BMAP) / SFWMD Service Area
- Florida Panther Focus Area / Primary Zone
- Seminole Tribe Big Cypress Reservation (sovereign tribal land)
- Florida Building Code 140-150 mph design-wind-speed region (non-HVHZ)
- Mobile-home park overlay districts
Known county issues (5)
- policy-review — Hendry County (pop ~42,000) would be covered by a pending ADU-ordinance mandate. Current LDC handles accessory dwellings through district-level provisions with substantial reliance on mobile-home second dwellings and farmworker-housing carve-outs — an explicit ADU ordinance would need to address size, setbacks, owner-occupancy, and how it interacts with mobile-home second dwellings.
- other — Unlike most US counties, a large share of 'ADU-equivalent' second dwellings in Hendry are HUD Code mobile homes rather than stick-built structures. Consumers researching ADU options here should understand both paths: HUD Code mobile-home placement (faster, cheaper, 'RP' real-property designation for permanent attachment) vs. FBC-compliant stick-built accessory dwelling. Cost differential can be 3x-5x.
- other — For owners with bona fide agricultural operations, farmworker housing (whether mobile or stick-built) may be assessed at agricultural rates rather than residential — a substantial tax advantage. Non-farmworker accessory dwellings on the same ag parcel would be captured at full residential just value. This creates both an incentive structure and a potential assessment-review risk if an owner later converts farmworker housing to arms-length rental.
- other — Flat topography, elevated water tables, and proximity to Lake Okeechobee and the Caloosahatchee make septic-drainfield siting challenging in much of the county. Flood-elevation requirements, ATU (advanced-treatment unit) septic systems, and mound systems are common on rural ADU projects and can add $10k-$25k to project cost.
- other — Parcels in the Florida Panther Primary / Secondary Zone (southwestern Hendry) may require USFWS Section 7 consultation on large-scale clearing; single-ADU projects typically below threshold but due diligence recommended before major vegetation removal.
Florida state — ADU law and programs
State ADU law
Florida does NOT currently have a statewide ADU preemption law in effect. Florida Statutes § 163.31771 (enacted 2004, last amended 2020) is permissive — it authorizes local governments to adopt ADU ordinances but does not require them to. ADU rules are therefore set municipality-by-municipality: Miami-Dade, Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa, and a growing set of Florida cities have their own ordinances; many smaller counties and cities still prohibit or restrict ADUs by default. A preemption bill (SB 48 / HB 313) is pending in the 2026 legislative session and is likely to pass given that its 2025 predecessor cleared the Senate 37-0 and House 97-10 before dying on a procedural amendment dispute.
- Florida Statutes § 163.31771 — Accessory dwelling units — Permissive (not mandatory) statute. Defines an ADU as 'an ancillary or secondary living unit, that has a separate kitchen, bathroom, and sleeping area, existing either within the same structure, or on the same lot, as the primary dwelling unit.' Authorizes — but does not require — local governments to adopt ordinances allowing ADUs in single-family residential zones. Contains no size caps, no owner-occupancy rules, no HOA preemption. All substantive rulemaking is local.
State financing programs
Florida Housing Finance Corporation (FHFC) does not operate an ADU-specific state loan or grant program. FHFC's primary affordable-housing lever at the ADU tier is the State Housing Initiatives Partnership (SHIP), which distributes state documentary-stamp-tax revenue to all 67 counties and 52 entitlement cities for locally-administered housing programs — some of which may fund ADU construction at the local level (notably Orange County's Affordable ADU Loan Program, run through the Orange County Housing Finance Trust). FHFC's FL Assist down-payment programs and HFA Preferred / HFA Advantage conventional loans apply to ADU-eligible primary residences but do not single out ADUs. Proposed CS/SB 1440 would create a state property-tax exemption of up to 100% of assessed value for an ADU rented at affordable rates.
State housing programs
Florida does not currently operate a statewide pre-approved ADU plan catalog (unlike California or Washington). State-level ADU implementation is driven by (a) the permissive § 163.31771 which lets willing jurisdictions adopt ordinances, (b) SHIP pass-through funding to local ADU programs (Orange County's Affordable ADU Loan Program is the model), and (c) the affordable-housing property-tax exemption under the Live Local Act (SB 102 / SB 328). The Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) — now reorganized as the Department of Commerce — provides technical assistance to local governments but no statewide ADU-specific mandate or program. Major counties (Miami-Dade, Orange, Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Broward) have published their own ADU ordinances and guidance documents.
Federal (United States) — ADU-relevant rules and programs
Federal ADU law
The United States has no federal statute that directly regulates accessory dwelling unit entitlement or design. Land-use authority over ADUs resides with states and local governments under the traditional police power. Federal engagement is limited to financing (Fannie/Freddie/FHA/VA/USDA), flood insurance (FEMA/NFIP), and discretionary housing programs (HUD), which are recorded in sibling sections of this file.
Federal financing programs
Federal housing-finance agencies and GSEs set nationwide underwriting rules that govern whether an ADU can be financed, appraised, and counted toward mortgage qualifying income. The relevant actors are Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, FHA (HUD), VA, and USDA Rural Development.
Federal tax credits
There is no ADU-specific federal tax credit. ADUs may incidentally qualify for existing federal energy-efficiency and clean-energy tax credits when the ADU construction includes qualifying measures.
Federal housing programs
HUD administers several discretionary programs that can fund ADU-related activity at the grantee's election, but none is an ADU-specific program.