Missing Middle To Help House Hunters With '6-Figure Income': Realtor

ARLINGTON, VA — The primary purpose of the Missing Middle Housing ordinance in Arlington was to increase the types of housing, not to create more affordable housing, speakers emphasized at the Northern Virginia Association of Realtors’ webinar on Oct. 19 on the new housing ordinance.

Classic Cottages LCC, a local home developer, already has received approval for five Missing Middle, or expanded housing option, permits in Arlington since July 1, when the new zoning ordinance took effect.

Many of these permits, including two projects in Arlington’s Alcova Heights neighborhood, are for 6-plex residential units, Charles Taylor, acquisitions manager for Classic Cottages, said at last Thursday’s webinar.

“From a developer's standpoint, the more density you can get, the more profitable it is,” Taylor said about the several 6-plex units getting approved early on in the Missing Middle housing process.

The Missing Middle ordinance allows developers to build up to six housing units on lots formerly zoned for single-family homes, similar to the two 6-plex residential buildings that the Classic Cottages affiliate has proposed in Alcova Heights.

During the webinar, Terry Clower, director of George Mason University's Center for Regional Analysis, said since the Missing Middle policy has been in place, developers are seeing a "pretty good turnaround" from Arlington County in approving their application permits compared to permit applications in other parts of Northern Virginia.

Taylor explained that getting an EHO permit doesn’t guarantee a Missing Middle housing project will be get built in Arlington because of the other types of permits that builders need to receive from the county.

READ ALSO: Lawsuit Against Arlington's Missing Middle Allowed To Move Forward

Nicholas Lagos, a Realtor and broker with Century 21 New Millennium and past NVAR president, said he is seeing a lot of people making "decent money" who cannot get into the Arlington market because of lack of housing supply.

The Missing Middle Housing ordinance will make more housing available for these higher earners who want to live and work in Arlington, Lagos said.

"This is not about affordable housing, but is about allowing more housing to be available," Lagos said. "What this is going to do is basically, hopefully bring in more availability of housing, both in rentals or for sale."

"You can have a person making a really good six-figure income yet not be able to afford Arlington because the properties are not available [or] they're either way too high," he said.

The construction of new Missing Middle-style housing types allows these six-figure income earners to purchase a home where their family can live, Lagos said.

In March, the Arlington County Board approved by-right construction of townhouses, duplexes and 4-6 unit buildings on lots across the county previously zoned only for single-family homes, effective July 1. For the first five years of the plan, an annual cap of 58 permits for Missing Middle housing units will be in place.

The 58 Missing Middle permits will be distributed by zoning district: seven permits for R-5; 30 permits for R-6; and 21 permits total for R-8, R-10 and R-20 housing. Lots sized 5,000 square feet, for example, are classified as R-5, and 6,000-square-feet lots are R-6.

During the webinar, Arlington County board member Matt de Ferranti said people have consistently suggested that Missing Middle refers to income level. "And that is actually not what the phrase is meant to modify," de Ferranti said. "It's Missing Middle housing types."

De Ferranti said the policy was meant to increase certain types of housing like duplexes, semi-detached houses and small garden-style apartments.

The policy's purpose also was about "housing affordability, not what people traditionally think of as affordable housing," he said.

De Ferranti added that he believes the Missing Middle policy represented a step by the county board toward making Arlington "more inclusive going forward."

"I do think it's salient because we don't see the same levels of homeownership and the Realtors here and nationally have made the point, we need Latino and African American homeownership at higher rates than it has been to this point in our history to be the country and the Virginia and the Arlington that we want to be," he said.

RELATED: Legality Of 6-Plex Housing Units In Arlington Challenged by Residents