On Common Ground - Summer 2016: Housing For All

single-family homes alone could provide. It was the definition of walkable urban living and smart growth.

But that was before modern zoning codes shut the door on most missing middle construction by separating different forms of housing from each other based on their density. The onslaught of suburban subdivisions helped keep the door shut by focusing on just one form of housing — traditional single-family.

“We call it missing primarily because it hasn’t been built very often in the last 50 or 60 years,” said Dan Parolek, principal at Opticos Design in Berkeley, Calif., who coined the term missing middle. “The biggest barrier is that most city zoning codes (continue to) limit what is allowed in single-family zones. If zoning allows for missing middle housing types, they will get built.” It’s a simple matter of demographics. “There’s this convergence of what the millennials want, which is walkable urban living, and what the baby boomers need, which is living without having to rely on a car,” Parolek said.

“The demand is high.”

Missing middle housing is affordable to a range of incomes.

As cities and developers strive to meet the demand, building new and rehabbing old missing middle housing is emerging as a way to expand the supply of walkable urban housing besides constructing more downtown high-rises. “There’s a real need for this missing middle type,” Parolek said. “It’s neighborhood living versus (downtown) living and that’s attractive to a lot of people.” The question is can the missing middle also play a role in addressing the nation’s shortage of affordable housing — not subsidized but market rate? The answer is yes, although not necessarily everywhere for everyone. “A lot of it has to do with the supply and demand equation,” Parolek said.

Land to build missing middle housing in established neighborhoods is scarce and expensive in hot housing markets. The affordability of infill development in places like Seattle is relative — $500, 000 for a row house versus $1 million for a traditional single-family home is a reasonable hypothetical — and only matters to people with six-figure paychecks.