Dallas Code Reform Makes Way for Missing Middle Housing

In late April, the Dallas City Council approved a change to the city’s building code that allows up to eight residential units in three-story buildings, a quiet but significant shift that could make a major dent in the city’s need for new housing.

A post in Strong Towns explains the potential of the new law, which will allow developers to build denser, more affordable ‘missing middle’ housing. “This change in Dallas won’t solve the housing crisis. But it removes a key obstacle. It creates the conditions where small-scale, bottom-up development can actually happen.”

Dallas could serve as a model for other cities. Rather than waiting for a silver bullet, cities should look to “small, sensible changes” like Dallas’s building code change that can incrementally build more affordable, walkable, and sustainable neighborhoods. “Because a strong town isn’t built overnight. It’s built by shifting the systems that are holding it back.”