A Primer on Arlington County's Missing Middle Housing Study

According to an article by Ally Schweitzer, Virginia's Arlington County is entering the second phase of a comprehensive study to evaluate how the county can encourage construction of "missing middle housing" to ease pressures on the local housing market.

With more than three quarters of residential land in Arlington zoned for single-family housing and average home prices reaching close to $1 million, the D.C. suburb is quickly becoming unaffordable to many households. "The county’s first 'Missing Middle' report also shows that most of Arlington’s single-family neighborhoods are at least 70% white, though non-Hispanic whites make up 61% of the county’s total population," Schweitzer writes.

The article provides a primer on the results of the study's first phase, including a definition of missing middle housing, answers to common questions, and an explanation of how rezoning can be an important tool in creating more diverse housing options and reaching affordable housing goals.

The study also assesses the environmental impacts of potential new development, claiming that denser, taller development could actually create fewer impervious surfaces and take up less land than new single-family homes. Increasing the availability of housing types, the report argues, could help reduce the negative impacts of the area's inevitable population growth.