By Christian Britschhi | Reason
This month, the Portland City Council unanimously approved a long list of seemingly technical zoning tweaks that ease the city’s rules on construction of “missing middle” housing types like townhomes, fourplexes, and cottage clusters.Portland legalized many of these housing types citywide in the summer of 2020 when it passed its Residential Infill Project. That program permitted duplexes in all formerly single-family zones and three- and four-unit homes almost everywhere. It also made it easier to add backyard cottages, granny flats, or other accessory dwelling units (ADUs) om single-family lots.
The program got hearty praise at the time as the nation’s most ambitious low-density zoning reform. It’s spawned an infant industry of developers building smaller, more affordable “missing middle” housing.
Nevertheless, the results thus far have been fairly modest, producing only about 100 additional units since the program went into effect in August 2021.
