Portland's citywide upzoning has been working — more and more of the development in previously single-family areas is now missing middle housing. The city's recent report also shows many other great impacts of Portland's top-notch upzonings — more charts below www.portland.gov/bps/planning... - ThreadSky

zyudhishthu.bsky.social • 7 days ago

Portland's citywide upzoning has been working — more and more of the development in previously single-family areas is now missing middle housing. The city's recent report also shows many other great impacts of Portland's top-notch upzonings — more charts below https://www.portland.gov/bps/planning/rip2/news/2025/2/4/portland-sees-significant-production-middle-housing-resulting

Comments

robgalanakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

📌

mike.perham.net•6 days ago

Am I misunderstanding? We’re permitting 50 units per month? When we need tens of thousands? I don’t see how that’s a success. Zoning, even if relaxed slightly, is still strangling this city.

andersem.bsky.social•6 days ago

I agree low-density zoning is only a small part of a solution, but plexes & cottages were 25% of Portland's housing permits in 2023-24! Suggests to me that if & when demand rebounds, low-density zones will be able to absorb a lot more demand than they were before.

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•6 days ago

I agree it’s small quantities, but i still see it as a significant success relative to a previous status quo. I second Michael’s point that we should see how this performs in the next up cycle.

But sure, there are definitely still places for reform

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•6 days ago

Also, I have optimism seeing that this reform is also reducing prices by offering housing at lower marginal cost (versus just adding overall supply). A lot of zoning reforms don’t necessarily do that.

andersem.bsky.social•6 days ago

If it weren’t, safe bet it wouldn’t be working much in a down cycle!

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•7 days ago

For one, Portland's flexibility has opened up more space for innovative missing middle housing types — amazingly, dozens of cottage clusters! Also, lots of fourplexes, very few 2-3plexes.

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•7 days ago

This chart is an interesting rejoinder to the "don't bulldoze our neighborhoods" fear that arises when upzoning single-family areas. Turns out, demolition in Portland's neighborhoods has been nearly nonexistent (though this may have to do with many wealthy areas having historic preservation laws)

robgalanakis.bsky.social•6 days ago

Was just talking to someone about this concern!

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•7 days ago

How has this housing been distributed across neighborhoods? Concerns about displacement were very prominent during Portland's upzoning discussions.

Vulnerable neighborhoods are building missing-middle at a proportionate level, but it's the high-opportunity areas seeing the most infill.

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•7 days ago

Here's one of the MOST IMPORTANT outcomes: missing middle legalization has enabled a lot of lower-cost housing to be built in single-family neighborhoods. Missing middle housing has clearly opened up a lower rung on the for-sale housing ladder.

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•7 days ago

Let's not forget parking — almost all of Portland's new neighborhood infill relies on the city's elimination of minimum parking requirements. A whopping 74% of recent middle housing projects include 0 parking spots.

zyudhishthu.bsky.social•7 days ago

One more key subcomponent of the reform is reducing minimum lot sizes and allowing small lots — meaning potential for-ownership missing middle housing.

Now, the majority of middle housing is on subdivided lots, meaning it can easily be for ownership or for rent.

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