FAQs

What is Missing Middle Housing?

Missing Middle Housing is a type of housing that falls between detached single-family homes and mid-rise apartments. These modestly scaled homes—which can include duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhomes, among others—blend well within and along the edges of existing neighborhoods and are already common occurrences in many historic communities. Many buildings containing several Missing Middle units have a similar overall footprint and design to single-detached homes, allowing for a more efficient lot use. 

Why is it missing?

Modest home types like duplexes and triplexes are already part of the fabric of some of our older neighborhoods, but these familiar homes are mostly illegal to build now. These housing types were systematically outlawed by downzoning throughout the 20th century through land-use policies deliberately designed to build invisible walls around predominantly white neighborhoods. Many of these limiting policies are still present in Arlington County codes today.

Will Missing Middle Housing make single-family homes illegal?

No, allowing for the construction of Missing Middle Housing types will not make single-family homes illegal. By re-introducing Missing Middle options for homeowners and builders where they make the most sense, we can expand housing choices for Arlingtonians while still allowing the construction of new single-detached homes.

Is this affordable housing?

Missing Middle Housing is not the same as “affordable housing” – we do not expect that the homes built or renovated will be limited to households below a certain income or automatically receive governmental subsidies. Allowing more Missing Middle Housing will help provide more modest housing that is less costly than the large single-detached homes currently allowed. If the homes and the buyers meet the program requirements, however, some Missing Middle Housing will be eligible for the Moderate Income Purchase Assistance Program (MIPAP) and other homeownership programs such as those through Virginia Housing, which provide assistance for middle-income buyers to make the purchase more feasible.

How will this impact Arlington’s public schools?

Whether or not the County decides to allow for more Missing Middle Housing, Arlington needs to expand its schools’ capacity over time to accommodate current growth projections. Expanding the supply of Missing Middle Housing would not significantly alter this existing challenge. Since these modestly-sized homes are great options for small families—as well as singles, childless couples, or empty nesters—Missing Middle Housing types feed fewer children per unit, on average, into Arlington's schools than single-detached homes according to Arlington Public Schools 2020 3-Year Enrollment Projections Report.

Missing Middle Housing has the potential to change the geographic distribution of households and students within the County depending on the outcome of any zoning changes and the market response. This type of change is expected to occur incrementally, giving planners and residents an opportunity to anticipate any changes to school demand. Re-introducing different housing types could also improve schools’ socio-economic diversity in areas that currently lack options for middle-income families. Teachers and school staff may also find it easier to live near where they work, deepening their ties to Arlington and benefiting the whole community.  

How has racism impacted Arlington’s housing codes?

In the early 20th century, zoning rules, private racial covenants, and practices such as redlining were commonly used to intentionally exclude non-white families from newly-developed subdivisions throughout Arlington and many communities around the country. Even after explicitly discriminatory practices became illegal in 1968, local zoning limiting large areas of the community to single-detached homes remained on the books, which continues to act as an economic barrier to most non-white Arlingtonians today. Now, there are only a few neighborhoods where Black and Latino/Hispanic households earning the median income can afford to live.

How will Missing Middle Housing impact the environment?

Missing Middle Housing is a common-sense solution that offers a path forward to more environmentally friendly and more financially attainable housing options in Arlington. These middle housing types are smaller by design and generally located in close proximity to local amenities—two factors key to reducing Arlingtonians’ carbon footprint.

Existing housing policies generally favor larger homes that carry too high of a climate and monetary cost, creating a housing system that is neither environmentally nor economically sustainable. 

Missing Middle Housing can reduce our carbon footprint in two key ways:  

1. Reduced size: Missing Middle Housing’s efficient scale requires fewer resources to construct and less energy to operate. Shared walls and small footprints offer both land and energy efficiency. 

2. Improved walkability: Missing Middle Housing allows residents to live closer to jobs, public transportation hubs, and commercial districts. This proximity lessens their dependence on cars and increases walkability, which cuts down on carbon emissions.  

Re-introducing these more flexible housing options into Arlington’s zoning ordinance would give the community the opportunity to modernize County housing policies to ensure they incorporate the environmental concerns that matter most to us. New Missing Middle regulations could result in more open, permeable space and, therefore, better stormwater absorption, as well as more on-site flexibility to promote tree preservation.  

How will Missing Middle Housing impact seniors? 

Arlington’s population of seniors is expanding, but the County’s existing housing supply isn’t meeting their changing needs. For too many seniors, downsizing means leaving the community they’ve called home for years.   

Missing Middle Housing offers a wide variety of benefits for Arlington’s growing population of seniors. Its intentional smaller scale reduces required maintenance, which is particularly important for seniors with mobility challenges. A smaller home can also mean smaller mortgages and lower rents, which are helpful for people on a fixed income (e.g. retirement benefits). Some Missing Middle Housing types with multiple units can also incorporate opportunities for rental income, which can reduce the financial burden on Arlington’s seniors and help them afford other services and necessities as time goes on. To the extent that Missing Middle Housing is newly developed or renovated, the homes can more easily be made accessible for seniors through either fully ADA-compliant features or age-friendly Universal Design practices.  

Missing Middle isn’t just good for seniors: it’s good for families as a whole. Multi-generational families can benefit from Missing Middle Housing where family members can reside together or nearby in the neighborhood. When we create an environment where Arlingtonians of any age can thrive, our community stands to benefit for years to come. 

If more people move into my neighborhood, where will I park? 

Higher parking requirements can make homes more expensive than they would be otherwise, and reducing or even eliminating minimum parking requirements is an increasingly common way to improve affordability. Fewer off-street parking spaces can also mean less impervious surface on a lot, which is better for the environment.

Missing Middle Housing’s emphasis on walkability and proximity to public transportation may also cut the need for parking as more residents opt for a car-free or car-light lifestyle. The County’s Missing Middle Housing Study will be looking at ways to find the right balance between all these factors.  

Will we lose Arlington’s trees in the construction of Missing Middle Housing? 

Arlington’s tree canopy is a valuable asset for the community. While some are concerned that the inclusion of Missing Middle Housing will compromise natural surroundings in Arlington’s residential areas, the truth is that any construction on a lot can negatively impact trees. This is especially true if builders and landscape designers are not taking best practices into account, such as consulting an arborist during the design phase. It is also the case that single-detached houses do not necessarily have more trees surrounding them than Missing Middle types: it depends on the type of landscaping and the placement of the structure on the lot.  

New zoning requirements that accommodate Missing Middle Housing could include new environmental incentives to promote tree preservation. These types of environmental incentives could be new eco-friendly tools for Arlington because there are few such requirements for by-right housing development. 

Who coined the term Missing Middle Housing?

Daniel Parolek, CEO and Principal in Charge of Opticos Design, Inc., a walkable urbanism-focused architecture firm based in Berkeley, California.