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Missing Middle Housing

Join Upstate Forever's efforts to remove barriers to diverse housing choices and expand opportunities for walkable, urban neighborhood living at a range of price points. Missing Middle Housing is a market-driven way to meet the demand for walkable urban living while simultaneously providing a product type that is more affordable-by-design. We'll keep you in the loop when opportunities to engage arise in your area.

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What is Missing Middle Housing?

“Missing Middle Housing” is a term coined by Opticos Design founder Daniel Parolek to describe a range of housing types that match the look, feel, and scale of single-detached homes, yet include two or more homes. It exists in the “middle” of the housing-density spectrum, between single-detached homes and high-rise apartments.

Examples include:

duplexes, tri-plexes, and four-plexes
mansion apartments
cottage courts
accessory dwelling units

The idea behind Missing Middle Housing is to provide a diversity of housing options within walkable urban neighborhoods, while keeping the character of those neighborhoods intact. Often, especially with duplexes and fourplexes, you can’t tell the difference between those units and the single-family homes next door.

Missing Middle Housing works best in walkable neighborhoods close to amenities like grocery stores, shops, and restaurants, where some daily trips can be made without a personal vehicle, reducing the amount of space needed for parking. Unfortunately, these housing types are often "missing" from cities because conventional zoning regulations prohibit them in most single-family areas.

How to support Missing Middle Housing

As our Upstate's urban centers continue to grow, zoning-code reforms to accommodate more diverse housing options will be required to meet the needs of all community residents. Housing choice is particularly important for aging residents, households without children, and low- to moderate-income households.

Watch this video to hear from Greenville residents who live in — and love – Missing Middle Housing.

So what are some common zoning reforms to encourage Missing Middle Housing? In mixed-use, walkable urban and suburban areas, local governments can adjust their land development and zoning regulations to:

eliminate minimum lot-size requirement
reduce excessive off-street parking requirements
lower barriers to construction for small-lot, infill development

Simple changes like these can enable Missing Middle Housing to increase and diversify housing options, while limiting sprawl into rural areas. Upstate Forever's Land Planning & Policy Team monitors opportunities at the city and county level to promote Missing Middle Housing and remove barriers to its construction. Sign up for our e-lists to stay in the loop on opportunities to engage.

Your voice makes a difference

At Upstate Forever, we believe that everyone in Upstate South Carolina should have access to clean drinking water, safe green spaces, and clean energy.

We work with elected officials and partners on issues at the state and local level that affect the health of our environment — and we work to equip citizens like you to make your voices heard on the conservation issues that matter most. Find out how you can take action today.

Find your elected officials

We've compiled handy links to help you find your representatives from local municipalities to the State House and Capitol Hill.

Take the next step

Unclear how to go about contacting your local or state legislator or unsure what to say? View our guide to engaging with elected officials.

Stay in-the-know

Join our email lists to receive action alerts from our advocacy staff to learn when your voice is needed on conservation, water, energy, growth, and other issues.

Join our email lists

The best way to stay up to date on issues we're tracking is to join our Land Planning & Policy email lists.

Local land use decision making varies by municipality, and may unfold very slowly or quickly. We'll keep you informed with critical updates, helpful context, and action alerts so you can take part in how your community grows.

Currently, we have three dedicated lists: Greenville, Spartanburg, and Anderson.

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Missing Middle Housing

What is Missing Middle Housing?

How to support Missing Middle Housing

Your voice makes a difference

Find your elected officials

Take the next step

Stay in-the-know

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