ADUs, Affordable Housing & the Tech Changing Everything — Leila Banijamali of Symbium

"What if solving the affordable housing crisis didn't require tearing down neighborhoods or building massive developments — but simply unlocking the potential that already exists on millions of properties across America?"

Affordable housing is one of the most urgent conversations happening in cities across America — and Chicago is no exception. The gap between housing supply and housing need continues to grow, and the communities that feel it most are the ones who can least afford to wait for solutions. In this episode of LUXE Life, Jennifer Williams tackles this critical issue head-on — and the answer may be hiding in plain sight, right in our own backyards.

ADUs — Accessory Dwelling Units — are secondary housing units built on existing residential lots. Think backyard cottages, garage conversions, basement apartments, and in-law suites. They are one of the most practical, community-friendly, and cost-effective tools available for expanding the affordable housing supply without displacing existing residents, disrupting neighborhood character, or waiting years for large-scale development to materialize. And yet, for most homeowners, the path to building one has been blocked by a wall of confusing zoning laws, inaccessible permit data, and regulatory red tape — until now.

Jennifer sits down with Leila Banijamali, co-founder and CEO of Symbium — a Stanford-born technology company with a mission that is equal parts innovative and deeply human: to streamline the regulatory side of residential construction and put the power of property knowledge back where it belongs — with the people. Before founding Symbium, Leila was an enterprise technology lawyer who witnessed firsthand how inaccessible and intimidating the permitting process was for everyday homeowners and asked a simple but powerful question: why can't this be as easy as searching Google?

Symbium's platform is essentially a search engine for zoning regulations — type in any address and instantly know what is possible on that property. Can you build an ADU? How large? What does the permit process look like? What will it cost? What are the design options? Information that once required lawyers, planners, and months of back-and-forth with city departments is now accessible to anyone with an internet connection. And that accessibility is not just a convenience — it is a democratizing force for communities that have historically been locked out of the housing conversation entirely.

Jennifer and Leila explore the full scope of what ADUs represent: for the homeowner, they are a path to passive rental income and increased property value. For families, they are a solution for multigenerational living — keeping loved ones close without sacrificing independence. For cities and communities, they are a scalable, neighborhood-level answer to the affordable housing crisis — creating more units, more options, and more opportunity without the politics and timelines of large-scale development.

This is an episode that reflects Jennifer's deep passion for equity, access, and the belief that real estate — done right — has the power to change lives at every income level. Whether you're a homeowner, an investor, a policymaker, or simply someone who cares about the future of housing in your community, this conversation will change the way you see the property right beneath your feet.

#LUXELife #JenniferWilliams #ADU #AccessoryDwellingUnit #AffordableHousing #HousingEquity #HousingCrisis #Symbium #PropTech #RealEstateTech #HomeInvestment #PassiveIncome #RealEstateInvesting #ZoningLaws #Permits #PropertyValue #ChicagoRealEstate #HousingPolicy #MultigenerationalLiving #CommunityImpact #WomenInTech #WomenInRealEstate #RealtorLife #GlobalRealEstate #Innovation #Podcast #Spotify #HomeOwnership #RealEstateStrategy #HousingForAll

🏆 LUXE Life — #2 Best Real Estate Podcast in Chicago · Icons of Real Estate  |  #8 · FeedSpot 10 Best Chicago Real Estate Podcasts

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hello everyone, this is Jennifer Williams with Lux Life. I am your host, as well as real estate agent, Real Tour, with Cobal Banker Gold Coast. Today on my podcast, it is my utmost pleasure to introduce you to such a cutting-edge, dynamic company and person. I'm at a loss for words for what changes that they are going to bring to our industry and everybody as a whole. I am speaking with none none other than Sybium CEO and co-founder, one of the co-founders, Layla Benajamali. Take it away.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Cool. Yeah, great. I'm well done for saying my name so well. And I am also at a loss for words for speaking with you, Jennifer. It's not often that I get to, you know, do these one-on-one podcasts with real estate professionals. And you are, you know, just the cream of the cream. You're amazing woman. And I wish I lived in the Chicago area, I would work with you. But you know, it you're you're awesome. And basically for caring and providing this type of information to your to your clients and your network is, you know, well done for doing that.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Thank you. It's about educating, putting the word out there, and anything that is cutting edge, especially such as what you have brought, you know, brought to the public, brought to the world. I mean, it from my background of construction and real estate combined over 30 years, I look back and man, if we could have had your, we could have had this sooner. Unbelievable. So tell me a little bit about Sybium.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Yeah, so Symbium was started by my co-founders and I right after we left Stanford a few years ago. And basically what we had done when we were there was we had created this technology that allows us to build certain types of web applications. And those web applications are what we call computational law or comp law web applications. And all that means is the laws and regulations are built right into them. So, in a sense, very similar to how TurboTax has the IRS tax code incorporated right into it. So you don't need to perform a manual review of the tax regulations just to understand what taxes you owe, what your tax obligations are. We can build systems like that in the planning space. That's where our space is. And you know, what I say is symbium.com is similar to Google Maps, where it's a free tool that anyone can use to understand not turn-by-turn directions to a property by turt, but turn by turn directions as to what you can build or what you can do on that particular property.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

Which is unbelievable how many times uh I just ran into it actually over the weekend. You know, what can be done on this property? What can we build? Can we divide it up? Can we this? Can we that? What permits have been pulled? You know, I if if you were in my area, we would have that readily available at our hands. In the in the from my understanding, it would be coming to our area, we would have so much benefit to it.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah, we're we're looking forward to expanding to your area. You know, and so many other states. I mean, right now today we're all only in uh California. Uh we cover all California properties. And you know, to the extent that we have data available, we try and put as much data about properties on there that's you know, public data, like things like permits and square footage information and you know, very reliable sources. We partner with a lot of cities and counties to do this. And, you know, it's pretty exciting. In fact, our first partnership was with the city of San Francisco. That was uh super fun. And at that time, we had just started the cover. We didn't know what to build, but we knew that we could build these types of systems. And so, you know, we built with the city of San Francisco an application that allows anyone to understand where they can open a particular type of business within the entire city. So, for example, if I say, Oh, I want to open a coffee shop, I wonder what all the properties are that I could, you know, where all the properties are that I could open a coffee shop in. And, you know, there's no way for me to perform that analysis right now. I would have to hire a an expensive planning consultant and maybe they would do some research. But even then, they won't be able to capture all properties. And so, you know, not just that, but what if I want a coffee shop the second floor and have it be part of a chain and so on and so forth? You know, all of these layers, one on top of the other, creates a lot of restrictions and complexity about where that coffee shop can be located. So we launched this tool for the public and they loved it just to kind of see do people enjoy interacting with these types of applications and they loved it. And then we decided to do the same thing with ADUs. So we can talk about that a little bit more. But yeah, that it's pretty exciting. I mean, the public loves to know what they can do and to have that power and not have to go to a planning consultant or directly to the planning counters just to have that preliminary analysis in their own homes.

SPEAKER_00 5:20

And then what happens if you you hire a consultant and they don't dig up, they don't find everything. You go to the counter, the planning counter. I mean, I've been to the city of Chicago building department. I can't tell you how many times. It's not that easy. Yeah, I mean, they do make it as easy as you can be in the city of Chicago. However, it's a challenge. And then you have to go to this department and this department, this department, and your system streamlines that saves time, saves money, and provides accuracy. You can right there, if you said, you know, I want to purchase one, two, three, Main Street. Okay, great, we're gonna type this in. We have then the information we need. We are going into a real estate transaction in an educated manner.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

That's exactly right. Yeah. So you know imagine instead of having to go to a planning. I mean, we we've shadowed planning departments in a lot of big cities, San Francisco included. We did the same in Los Angeles and San Jose, just kind of standing back and watching how people interact with planners at the counter, you know, what the experience is, if people have to take a number, they have to stand there, they have to get bouncing around between different departments. Now think of the pandemic where people have to do things all remotely, you have to, it's very, very difficult. And all of those resources were that would have been, you know, focused on planning were diverted to emergency response for a while. And planning was then having a hard time to understand, okay, we don't really, we're not really set up to accept digital applications, you know, permit applications online, you know, and even if they were, they didn't expect this uh volume of applications to come in. And so there's a lot of complexities, you know, a lot of planning departments also have, you know, difficulty with keeping track of what planner A said to a homeowner versus planner B said to that same homeowner. And so that inconsistency tends to bring a lot of friction. It tends to escalate issues up to planning, planning managers and planning directors. And, you know, sometimes it turns into litigation. In our experience, we've seen some of some cities deal with stuff like that. So, you know, it can be a messy process and kind of really making sure that the public is better informed at the time that they approach the counters is part of our our work.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

I think also it would help from the the plan review standpoint. If you have everything compiled into, again, I chose one, two, three, main street. If you have everything compiled already, we're submitting the information, everything's already right there. So if the if the person reviewing the plan wants to go to page 78 of whatever it is, line 364, it's you've already streamlined that for them, which then in my mind would streamline the entire permitting process.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

That's exactly right. Yep, that's exactly right. So, you know, our philosophy is that your experience with your permits and with your projects should be as streamlined as going to Amazon and purchasing something with a few clicks. You should be able to, you know, maybe it's not a few clicks, maybe it's a few more clicks, but you should be able to complete projects, you know, in a much shorter period of time with a lot less frustration and lot less money spent.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

On time, on budget, ahead of schedule, you would then turn your permits where you know could be a 30-day, 45-day, six-month review. And that was post, that was pre-pandemic. Now can streamline that, which then gets everybody back online, moving faster, at a better pace, more efficiently. And and you're right, the anxiety level, you say to someone, I'm going to can I do an ADU? And we'll talk about that in a second, or can I want to remodel my home, or has there been a building permit pulled? The anxiety level goes from zero to 8,000. Right. Because the first thing you think is, oh my gosh, I have I have to go. Where am I gonna go? I have to go to this municipality or this building, or what do I do? You cut that out.

SPEAKER_01 9:42

Yeah, exactly. Right. So I mean, you know, the purpose of Symbium is not to replace planning departments, it's to empower the public with better information and allow them to better search for data about properties, whether it's their own properties or properties that they're interested in, as well as perform, you know, make updates to that data, you know, take actions on their properties or other properties, you know, kind of responding to sort of requests or filing taxes or, you know, applications or I mean all kinds of things like that, that the pro the public should be empowered to perform some action to do something. And, you know, like there's many instances where, for example, if you receive a tax assessment for your property on which you have to pay property taxes, you know, most people probably don't know how to appeal those assessments. Sure. How do you how do you know whether or not that value is correct? And how do you even appeal that if you disagree with it? So most people just pay it as it is and don't raise any stink about it. But if you had an easy way to do those kinds of things, then it's very likely that more people would do that. And I think that the public is, you know, from what we've understood, they really are hungry for systems like that to help self-help systems.

SPEAKER_00 11:07

Yeah, we currently have an antiquated system, if you will. And this streamlines it, it marries it together, brings so much to the table. And I agree with you, you know, we're not going to replace governmental bodies. However, you know, when you I can't imagine the frustration of someone at the building department, someone who's new who doesn't know what they're doing, brings for and you gotta walk them through the steps of how the permitting what you have to do, permitting process, which can, which can't, tax appeal. You know, people come in, I rate, my taxes are now, but with no no backing or proof. Your system provides that. So again, it takes that anxiety level on both sides of the counter. That's right. Yeah. And reduces it to almost nothing. It's it's a it's a no-brainer for me here.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Jennifer, I'm curious in Chicago, how big are our ADUs where you where you are?

SPEAKER_00 12:03

They're getting they're getting more prevalent. The thing that we are having right now, uh, we have ADUs, they just came back as far as available to to permitted of use. Then we also what we're struggling with now is you know vacant storefronts. What can be in this building if we have say a storefront on the first floor, second and third floor, maybe apartments or or something of that nature? What can go in that existing space and still work with the community? So that's kind of our our struggle at of right now in Chicago. But ADU. So let's talk because we've both said ADUs a few times, and and some of our guests are probably what is an ADU?

SPEAKER_01 12:51

What the heck is an ADU? So what's an ADU? Let us know. Yeah, I don't know. What is it? What is it? No, I'm kidding. I do know it. So ADU stands for accessory dwelling unit. And it's often known by many different terms. It can be called a granny flat, it can be called an in-law unit or a backyard cottage. It's just a second unit on a property. And oftentimes, you know, it could be like a tiny, like a little tiny shed, you know, a studio shed or a tiny home or something like that. And oftentimes people build ADUs and usually at lower cost than they would if they were going to build a whole other, you know, single family home on that lot or a whole other different type of unit, because they can often plug into the existing infrastructure in on the property. And they'll often put one there because they want to, for example, house an aging family member, or it's used as a means of affordable housing, just increasing the numbers of affordable housing units because they are lower cost or lower cost to build. California enacted some ADU regulations statewide to really promote this idea of more affordable housing across the state, because as you know, California, like many other states, is in a major housing crisis right now. And so ADUs was a tool, you know, a means to make sure that more people have housing where it's needed. So it has been, you know, used successfully in some areas. In other areas, there's been some pushback for ADUs because, for example, you know, there's a whole movement of people that do not want ADUs in their backyards or in the backyards of their neighbors because they don't know who's going to live there, et cetera, et cetera. And, you know, it's a whole NIMBY movement or not in my backyard movement. And we don't have any opinions on these things. That's not the purpose of Symbium. The purpose of Symbium is just to incorporate the regulations into our system so that people can see what's possible and decide for themselves whether they want one or not. But ADUs have become a very, very hot topic, and we've started to see some developers come up, you know, that are specializing in these types of structures. And some of them are pretty cool. So we we have some that we showcase on uh the symbium side or that developers have uploaded, or some city partners of ours have uploaded as a way of pre-approved housing that will have a fast track to approval. So it's it's kind of cool uh as an option.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

I did check that out, and there are there are some it makes sense, especially says we are our society has shifted a bit. We are looking at you know whether people decide to now that we all can work remote, pretty much. Do we go back to the office? Do we not go back to the office? We've now blended families even more, whether related or just our friends. Sometimes everybody needs their space. Uh it makes sense to me. And again, you know, neither one of us are taking a stance on it as far as for or against it. It's about transparency, and it's about making sure that everybody's educated. Why wouldn't why wouldn't that be a good thing? I think it's a fantastic, uh, fantastic thing. So I mean, we can look back at the permit history, you know. Let's also talk about how accessible, what are the tools? I know I've looked at the you know, I've I've gone to your website, I I've watched the videos, I'm blown away, I'm in love with it. No better person to talk about it than you. The technology and the tools, how easy they are, and and everything you have is right there.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Yeah, you know, it's funny, like we talk about sort of symbium building this property portal, which by the way, anyone can try at symbium.com. We again we only have California coverage right now, but we are going to be extending that over time. You know, it's it's hard to build these systems, and it's not just a matter of trying to understand what is the ideal experience that we are going for, you know, because we have to eventually essentially reinvent a new type of search engine, a new type of interaction with this type of data, property data, anything that is related to properties. But another challenge is also, you know, the availability of that data in digitized form because many jurisdictions right now do not have digital data. They are still operating using things like physical map books to identify zoning for a property. So you go to the counter and you're saying, Hey, I have a property in at this address, and the person behind the counter will literally open a map book and flip through it. And these things are these monsters, there's volumes of them.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

They're and will yeah, huge. They are, yes.

SPEAKER_01 17:45

And then they'll flip through these pages of transparencies and overlays and kind of identify, oh, yes, you're in the R1 district, and therefore you can do this on your property. I mean, it is just so archaic. And so those are, I think the larger issues is digitization of that data. And, you know, a lot of these jurisdictions, I mean, it's incumbent upon them to do it, and a lot of these jurisdictions need a lot of help doing it too.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

So I can see that, and then it's understanding, you know, getting everyone to understand exactly how easy this is, which is gonna be an uphill battle for you because again, I've not heard of anything that combines everything that you're combining in one stop, you know. So you're blazing the trail for so many other other opportunities and so many things to evolve from it. I again I'm I'm just blown away by it. I love the fact that you're you're you care enough to bring the education and the transparency to the public and get everybody to work together seamlessly.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

You know, we actually just had a meeting this morning. We were invited by a real estate office. This happens on a weekly basis. We go to real estate meetings and you know, we present this application and make it known to real estate agents that it's another tool in their toolbox that they can use if they want to do a quick assessment of a property, maybe see what's been built there, see if it was permitted, you know, understand whether an ADU can go there, generate an ADU report, put that into their disclosures. And so talking to real estate agents, kind of understanding, you know, what are some challenges that you have? And they have this challenge on a daily basis because the public is relying on you as an agent, you know this yourself, to basically tell them, you know, hey, what's the story with this property? And if you really care about providing the story to your clients, you're gonna do more than just go on to the MLS and, you know, or Redfin or Zillow and take a look at the property and say, oh, yes, it has five bedrooms, four baths, and it's 3,000 square feet. That's just not enough. You know, you really need to be, you really need to be looking at the full picture of that property in relation to that environment, you know, if it's in any natural hazard zones, what's the permit history, what can I build on that property? Let me just go ahead and sketch something right there and generate that as an image for my client, you know, all kinds of things like that that will, you know, what what what's the topography there? Get a visualization of the 3D view of that area. You can do all this on Symbium. And I think that this is something that agents over the years have had to go to multiple different places to find that homeowners have never been able to find because they didn't know where to even look for it.

SPEAKER_00 20:39

Some agents really don't even know where to look for it either, to be honest with you, because we it, you know, it's how do you there's not a spot to look for one thing, and there's not that you know, I believe in giving as much information as I can and being as detailed, it helps with selling the property. It's not a oh, you're hiding. You know, here we are. You know, the permit was pulled. I think we would also cut down on so many properties that will fall out of escrow. They're going to go under contract, and then they find out later on after you've committed, you've got the moving truck in the driveway, you are two days away from closing, and you find out that a permit was pulled, was not pulled on this, or was pulled but never closed, or the zoning is wrong, or whatever it is. It happens. And this will cut that out. This will streamline that when an agent and the in the public uses a tool, it'll it'll streamline that. Right. That's exactly right. Yeah. Unbelievable. I um again, I'm so excited because it's going to make my job easier when we come to Chicago or if I do anything in California. Yeah. Um, or any of the other states you're going to. So I want to make sure we touch base. Again, later stick around the end here, and uh, I want to have a chat with you after after we close. Um, again, this is Jennifer Williams, host of Lux Life, Cole Banker Gold Coast agent. And it was my pleasure to catch up with uh Symbium co founder and one of the co founders and CEO Layla Benjamin Benjamin.

SPEAKER_01 22:24

The pleasure was all mine, Jennifer. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Thank you so much. And like I said, stick around. I want to chat with you more. You got it.