‘More Abundant, Diverse and Affordable’: Missing Middle Housing Proposed as Solution to Housing Crisis in Massachusetts

In Greater Boston, one- and two-person households make up about 60 percent of homes. These smaller households limit the effective housing supply while more than 200,000 housing units in Massachusetts are needed to address the current shortage.

Amy L. Tomasso, the director of policy innovations at Ivory Innovations based out of the University of Utah, addressed how constructing missing middle housing offers a practical solution to housing shortage crises across the country in a Friday talk.

Missing middle housing refers to the construction of multiple-unit buildings between detached single-family homes or large multi-story apartment buildings, allowing for a smooth integration into existing neighborhoods and providing affordable and diverse housing options.

During the seminar hosted by the Joint Center for Housing Studies, Tomasso explained how a major benefit of middle housing is the choices they give prospective buyers. As they are designed to fill in missing space between existing infrastructure, these homes can range in design and size, offering housing diversity of sizes, scales, and price points that work for different life stages and needs of buyers.

“Think about seniors looking to downsize with few market options, or a young family looking for a starter home, or a single person looking to build equity by buying a duplex and renting out half of it,” she said. “Middle housing fills these needs. Not everyone wants to, has access to, or can thrive in a single family home or large apartment building.”

Tomasso pointed out how households are shrinking while the average size of a new single family home is growing — a problem that she said middle housing could solve.

“That’s a direct response to only allowing one home per lot in most places. That means the square footage of living space per person has grown three and a half times in the last 75 years, and all this extra space has a carrying cost,” she said. “Missing middle housing can fill this void.”

While this strategy may seem ideal, one important component remains unaddressed: middle housing is expensive and faces many legal obstacles.

Local zoning codes, for example, often prohibit this housing strategy in favor of constructing only single-family or large-scale apartment buildings. These codes reinforce public distaste for denser neighborhoods, and support vehicle-oriented streets and strict land use separations.

“Multifamily housing, even medium-scale homes like duplexes, were excluded from by right zoning uses,” she said. “As a result, the market contracted around a few accepted home types, leaving middle housing missing.”

Tomasso adds that the enactment of building codes, like those requiring a switch from residential to commercial code at three units, further exacerbates the difficulty of implementing multifamily unit buildings like triplexes.

“Since missing middle housing now required special permits and project variances, regulatory barriers were introduced,” she said.

While these zoning codes were initially implemented across the country in the mid-20th century, ongoing attempts to re-introduce missing middle housing have been met with much success, especially in the Pacific Northwest.

Tomasso referenced Oregon as a success story as they were the first to pass statewide missing middle legislation in 2019 through a tier system that matched missing middle housing types with market sizes.

“A key formula to Oregon’s success is a policy innovation by now Governor Tina Kotek that included clear and objective minimum compliance standards, a deadline to meet those standards, and a model code that would automatically kick in if those standards weren’t met,” she said.

Tomassoa also pointed to a decrease in residential parking minimums as a potential solution.

“Washington came back with a parking reform bill that waives parking requirements for small homes, making missing middle housing even more viable to build,” she added.

Tomasso said that during her short time working at the state of Vermont Department of Housing and Community Development, she was able to help standardize a layered approach to re-legalizing middle housing based on the existing public utility infrastructure in neighborhood communities.

“I believe this approach would apply well in Massachusetts, with its combination of urban and more rural areas,” she said.

“I hope that the recommendations in this series provide a useful roadmap for Massachusetts and any state or city that is serious about changing its housing landscape to be more abundant, diverse and affordable,” Tomasso added.

—Staff writer Ramon Moreno Jr. can be reached at ramon.moreno@thecrimson.com.

—Staff writer Yahir Ramirez can be reached at yahir.ramirez@thecrimson.com.