"Missing middle homes" are buildings that have multiple housing units within the structure but are more modest in scale compared to large apartment complexes. They are referred to as "missing" because not many have been built after they became illegal in many cities around the 1930s and "middle" because they are in-between single family homes and high rise apartment/condo buildings. This type of housing typically has 2 to 20 units but can vary greatly in characteristics depending on their unit count. Smaller unit count missing middle housing types include duplexes and fourplexes and are similar in size to single-family homes while larger unit count missing middle types can include rowhouses and multiplexes and are a good transition from single-family homes to larger apartment complexes. 

Missing middle housing has historically given working-class families, people of color, and immigrants access to more affordable homes. During the Progressive Era, Minneapolis saw a huge increase in missing middle housing because it provided workers healthier living conditions and was more accessible than single-family homes. It wasn’t until the 1930s that regulations and policies began to work together to exclude many missing middle housing types from being built in the "desirable," single-family home neighborhoods of Minneapolis. These determinations were based on race and have shaped the opportunities granted to multiple generations of Minneapolis residents. Today, the Twin Cities has among the largest disparities among persons of color and indigenous peoples compared with white people in homeownership as well as poverty rates, employment, and level of education. One way of addressing this equity issue is to increase the amount of missing middle housing throughout the city.

Now that Minneapolis 2040 has been adopted, the policies that once prohibited missing middle homes from being built in single-family home neighborhoods in our city have been replaced with policies that encourage specific missing middle housing types be built in those very same neighborhoods. We studied obstacles in our zoning code that made it difficult to build missing middle and updated it to allow more of this housing to be built. For example, updates in our zoning code have made it possible to build 3 units on any residentially zoned parcel. We also updated our parking requirements which once made it difficult to build missing middle. This is a great step towards accomplishing our equity goals but there are still other obstacles that make it difficult to build missing middle homes such as regulations found in fire code, building code, accessibility requirements that need to be met, general know-how, and of course financing.

Table of Contents 

1. Background
   1. Minneapolis 2040 Goals
   2. Benefits of Missing Middle Housing
   3. History of Missing Middle Housing in Minneapolis
2. Research
   1. Missing Middle Housing Glossary
3. Resources
   1. Interviews
   2. Programs and Publications