Missing Middle Housing is a transformative concept that highlights the need for diverse, affordable housing choices in sustainable, walkable places.
Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to Today's Housing Crisis
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We Help Private Developers Make Their Mark
We are the undisputed experts when it comes to Missing Middle Housing. We can help you expand your business model to include Missing Middle Housing types, including finding the right sites, securing funding and connecting with other builders and professionals doing similar work. Looking to target a specific city or neighborhood for strategic investing in MMH? We can help with that, too.
We Help Cities Implement Missing Middle Housing
We can help you bring Missing Middle Housing to your city or town. Perhaps you need an area plan or a specific plan that will remove barriers and spark development of MMH. Maybe you are hoping to integrate MMH into your strategic housing plan, a comprehensive plan or a zoning fix or rewrite. We can kick things off with a Missing Middle Housing Scan™ to better understand the barriers and opportunities, and then get started. We’re here to help!
“Opticos worked closely with us to design a beautiful, diverse neighborhood... It’s been a true pleasure working with them to fulfill my vision.”
— Jerry Reimer, Co-founder, Urban Village Development
We are the chief architects of the Missing Middle Housing movement.
Opticos principal Daniel Parolek coined the term Missing Middle Housing in 2010, transforming the national conversation about the need for more diverse housing choices at affordable prices. Since then, we’ve been driving a radical paradigm shift, urging architects, urban planners, and builders to fundamentally rethink the way they design, locate, regulate and develop homes. Americans want and need more diverse housing choices in walkable neighborhoods; homes that are attainable, sustainable and beautifully designed.
Missing Middle Housing Site Planning and Architecture
Meeting the Demand for Walkable Living
At Opticos, we design custom urban housing types that are different from anything else on the market. We don’t look at the housing types that have been built and sold in the recent past. Instead, we’ve studied a broad range of market segments and we design the kind of homes that people want today. Our designs are new and different, and they’re creating walkable, urban neighborhoods that people want to call home. In doing this, we deliver remarkable efficiencies for our clients while developing high-quality living environments for home buyers and renters. Everybody wins.
The Missing Middle Neighborhood Kit™
Unique, Market-Ready Housing Solutions
The Missing Middle Neighborhood Kit™ gives access to 20+ years of award-winning design and construction experience, extensive research, and thought leadership with our Missing Middle Housing catalog of prototypes, making it easier to deliver needed and desired housing choices efficiently. These prototypes are applicable for single-lot infill to 40+ acre complete Missing Middle Neighborhoods.
Missing Middle Neighborhoods
Redefining Multifamily Living
We can help you develop a new kind of neighborhood that will attract the growing number of people who prefer to rent, but who don’t want to live in a conventional apartment complex. Some of these folks are just choosing to rent longer, while others are re-entering the rental market in an effort to downsize. Either way, we can help you build a neighborhood composed entirely of Missing Middle Housing rentals, or a combination of rental and for sale units. Not your ordinary multifamily project or new neighborhood!
Featured Projects
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“Opticos' design of the Mews Homes was innovative and differentiated us from the market. It also enabled us to hit a price point near $200,000 that we had been unable to reach with our existing product types. Dan and the Opticos team have been a great partner, and we’re excited to work with them on new, creative projects in the future!"
— Spencer Holmes, Partner and Vice President, Holmes Homes
Sacramento Adopts One of the Most Progressive Missing Middle Strategies in the U.S.
Since our last update on the City of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Council unanimously adopted the Missing Middle Housing Interim Ordinance, becoming the first in California to allow multi-unit housing in every neighborhood. The Missing Middle Housing (MMH) Interim Ordinance is the outcome of a multi-year, comprehensive Missing Middle Housing Study led by Opticos in partnership with Cascadia Partners, Unseen Heroes, and Bill Lennertz. The Ordinance went into effect on October 17, 2024, and includes innovative tools like the sliding scale FAR to incentivize smaller, incremental housing that is more attainable for its community.
HCPO 2024 Recap: Bridging the Housing Gap in Hawai’i with Innovative Solutions
Mitali Ganguly and Caroline Cochran spoke with Maui County Planning Director Kate Blystone and Kauaʻi County Planning Manager Jodie Higuchi Sayegusa at HCPO 2024 about innovative infrastructure solutions and private-public partnerships that may deliver attainable Missing Middle Housing in Hawai’i.
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Speaking Nationwide
