Berkeley needs to pass Missing Middle Housing now!
Berkeley is the city that started single family zoning, and now it's time for Berkeley to undo that infamous legacy. As Mayor Arreguín acknowledged in BNHCA’s forum on exclusionary zoning, Berkeley established single-family zoning “with racist intent”. We now have a chance to undo the sins of our past, and we need to do so with urgency.
Berkeley’s Housing Element commits the city to changing zoning and development standards to promote a mix of housing types and sizes, and city council further called for the elimination of exclusionary housing policies, allowing Missing Middle Housing to be built throughout the city. Missing Middle housing – duplexes, triplexes/fourplexes, courtyard apartments and other small-scale multi-family housing types – was a common feature of housing development in Berkeley up until the 1970s. Restoration of these housing options in all neighborhoods is one part of solving our housing crisis. It will also promote greater economic, racial, ethnic, and age-based integration throughout the city. Berkeley's Missing Middle Housing proposal would all but eliminate single-family zoning in the city that started it, which is a Really Big Deal.