KEEPING THE NEWS LOCAL.... AND THE COMMUNITY CONNECTED.
VOLUME 2 EDITION 1
JANUARY 2021
LIVE
Missing Middle Housing and the Need for Diversity By: Raven Halle
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COMMUNITY UPDATES
Last month, we talked about the idea of placemaking, or the multi-faceted concept involving the ways in which traditional neighborhood developments inspire their residents to reimagine public spaces as little hearts of a community. In this thorough examination of traditional neighborhoods, their characteristics, and how their characteristics intersect and define communities, we arrive at yet another idea: the idea of “Missing Middle Housing.” Similar to the notion of mixed-use facilities, the term “Missing Middle Housing” refers to a way through which more housing and housing choices are developed in walkable, sustainable places like traditional neighborhood developments. Traditional neighborhoods diverge from conventional suburbia in many ways—as we have previously discussed— and perhaps the most notable of which is the idea that people of all social and economic strata are
able to live, work, and thrive comfortably in traditional neighborhoods due to their multiple types of living options. Essentially, “Missing Middle Housing” serves to support local business as well as diversifying housing choices, thus diversifying the people within a community.
closing the gap between small amounts of available housing and the high demand for walkability.
When looking at the characteristics of Missing Middle Housing compared to the characteristics of traditional neighborhood developments, many trends The words “Missing can be observed: both Middle” refer to their aim to aid and increase status as being between, walkability and feelings or in the middle of, typof community and interical housing: the bridge connectedness, decrease between apartment com- the need for automobiles, and produce a more plexes and single-family sustainable ecological homes. From duplexes to fourplexes, Missing footprint. This is why Middle Housing, then, they work well in concan be best described as junction. The similarities clustered housing similar in scale between single in scale to single-family Missing Middle Housing homes which aid to meet units and single-family the continuously growing homes allow for them to demand of living options be easily blended, again encouraging diversity in walkable, urban spacboth amongst living es. Above all, Missing spaces and residents. Middle Housing allows for demographics such Missing Middle Housing as senior citizens, young is an example of comcouples, single parents, patible infill—a developteachers, and doctors to ment that does not take live comfortably amongst away from the privacy or one another in order to character of neighboring foster a deeper sense of houses—which is a direct community while also result of its perceived
low density, or the ability of these buildings to not appear dense or crowded. See photo below for a diagram that exemplifies these different types of Missing Middle Housing and how they can be implemented within a community. Overall, Missing Middle Housing creates more living usage and units on less land than do single-family homes. The idea that the Missing Middle is a spectrum, also indicated by the graphic below, means an increase in housing supply and a decrease in total cost for residents as compared to the supply and cost of single-family units. Most importantly, Missing Middle Housing directly impacts the need for affordable housing, and does so in a way that not only improves the lives of those seeking to live there, but also other members of the community who can watch their neighborhoods grow and diversify.
