A Gen Xer got $30,000 to build an extra apartment in her backyard. Renting it out makes paying her bills 'financially possible.'

• Marni Leiken bought a home in Montpelier, Vermont, intending to add an income-producing rental.
• She received a total of $30,000 from the state to build an ADU in her backyard to rent out.
• "For Vermont, which is very expensive, it made being here financially possible," she said.

In 2015, Marni Leiken, a single mother who works as a university administrator, purchased a home in Montpelier, Vermont.

Leiken planned to put an apartment above her new carriage barn, a hallmark of Vermont architecture that refers to a small outbuilding where horse-drawn carriages were stored. The rental property, she thought, would bring in additional income that would help her pay her mortgage. But the barn was structurally damaged, she learned, and adding a unit on top of it would be costly.