Missing Middle

Philip Schwartz posts a nice example of the missing middle housing. Predictably, someone in the comments doesn’t find the color nice enough.

In 2023 there were 34 of these permitted in the city core. Year to date, another 4. In Hennepin county the total of 3-4 unit multi-family permitted in 2023 came to 78.

Austin Tx and the Missing Middle

Kyla Scanlon- economist

I love this clip by Kyla about the housing market in Austin. Build more housing and prices moderate. Too true.

There’s another factor at play here. Austin is a new town which has experienced a lot of growth. And along with the growth, prosperity. So for folks in the area to be pro-expansion and in turn pro-housing growth is an easy turn.

In more established cities, there are networks of additional interests all meshing on top of the landscape. There were reasons why residents fought for and built out their cities following those rules. For new growing metros, the Austin plan would be easy to adopt. For more those with longer histories, it’s not the same game. Here it will take other strategies to urge continued housing growth.