Missing Middle and My Grandmother
The author’s grandmother. Image provided by the author and shared with permission.
Over the years, the city council of my small town in the Pacific Northwest has supported legislation limiting our housing supply. Our zoning code features minimum lot sizes, arduous accessory dwelling unit (ADU) conditions, and large areas zoned low density residential. In recent public meetings, our mayor and council members have acknowledged that there are many people excluded from our city and many struggling to afford to stay. While they appear unaware of the extent that their policies have contributed to the problem, I believe they are sincere in their desire to fix it.
Inevitably, as "front row" people with the power to write the rules, they are attracted to the "top down" solutions. They’re discussing things like Section 8 vouchers for low-income households, up-zoning and/or tax incentives in less desirable locations in exchange for providing a certain percentage of below market rate units in multi-family rental developments, and need-based utility rate reductions.
Because of my life experiences, I believe that "bottom-up" solutions to the problem of housing affordability offer more than the "top-down" ones ever could.
An older veteran I know lives on a fixed income in our community. He is not in the best of health, but he’s well enough to live alone in the three bedroom, two bathroom home where he has been for over two decades. He’s attached to his home and neighborhood. Family who live nearby check in with him and help as needed when they can. He maintains his house, but has not made improvements to it. Even so, our area is in high demand, housing is scarce, and since our property taxes are based on value, his are increasing. Cost of living also continues to rise faster than the pensions he receives have, so he’s struggling to afford to continue to live as he has.
There are some "top down" solutions that might work for him. He could fill out the paperwork and, if he qualifies, he could receive the property tax reduction our county makes available to low-income seniors. Any savings he receives is ultimately paid for by other taxpayers, but we are generous people and generally agree that helping someone in this situation is the right thing to do. Even with this aid, though, he may still have trouble making ends meet and will still be living alone in a space that is larger than he needs.
The "bottom up" approach of Shared Housing—just another way of saying "having a roommate or roommates"—might help. Whoever moves in with him would have somewhere to live and their rent would help him pay the bills. This would work for a lot of people and I am happy to say that many communities have set up agencies that help match roommates with people who have space for them.
Sadly, shared housing isn't a great option for everyone. The person I am thinking of is set in his ways; used to living alone. Even a tidy and considerate roommate might make him crazy if he had to share a kitchen and living areas. I am an architect and am well aware that there are many problems that can't be solved by design, but this one can!
For the majority of single family houses, there are simple and inexpensive ways to carve out space for an ADU or split into two units. In this way, privacy is retained. Utility bills are lowered. People who live alone in houses that have become too large for them still have plenty of space. A unit of housing is created for someone who needs one.
Even if no additional square footage is added, renovations have costs. They also increase home values and might trigger property tax increases, but the rental income over time would more than make up for this. And unlike a property tax reduction, the jurisdiction would receive a net increase in revenues.
I think that there are many seniors whose quality of life would be improved by this sort of change. However, I also know of many communities, like mine, where regulations would either not allow a renovation like this or would add enough regulatory costs to make it impractical.
By contrast, the fact that my late grandparents were able to buy a home in Montreal that had spaces for others had tangible positive impacts on their lives.
The author’s grandmother’s house in Montreal. Image via Google Streetview.
Montreal is often held up as an example of a city where "missing middle" housing isn't missing. I grew up on a street of mostly single family houses, with a few side-by-side duplexes. There is all sorts of housing in my old neighborhood. My mother's parents lived about half a mile away from us, down the street from the high school where my father taught. There might be a word for the form their house took, but I don't know it. It was a two-story structure with a basement. There was a firewall in the middle and my grandparents owned half. Their half had two stacked units, each with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The front porch on their side had two doors, one that opened to a staircase that went to the upper unit. My grandparents had the lower unit and rented out the upper. The basement had a garage, a heated storage area connected to my grandparents’ house by a staircase, and a very small (today might be called "tiny") one bedroom, one bathroom basement apartment.
Most of the time, the upper unit had a family in it and the basement a single person. My grandfather passed away in his sixties and my grandmother was a widow for the last third of her life. I couldn't tell you when Connie moved into the basement apartment. My grandmother liked her and even though we lived close by, my grandmother would ask Connie to help her with small tasks that she could not do on her own. My grandmother remained mentally sharp until almost the end of her life, but her physical decline was steady. At a certain point, my grandmother approached Connie and said, "You know, you help me so much... It doesn't make sense that you are paying me rent. I have so much extra space, including a bedroom that I don't use at all, why don't you come live with me?" At first, Connie lived rent free and helped my grandmother a little, but over time my grandmother needed even more help and Connie became my grandmother's full-time paid caretaker, a role she had until the end of my grandmother's life.
Another view of the house. Image via Google Streetview.
The advantages, beyond financial, that this sort of housing provides are life changing. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that I never learnt my grandmother's recipes, but Connie did. Towards the very end of her life, my grandmother suffered some confusion, but Connie had known her well for so long that she still understood her. How would my grandmother have met Connie and known she would be the right person to move in with her, if not for the basement apartment?
I don't doubt that politicians who look at the problem of attainable housing want to help people. I urge them to look beyond the usual "top-down" tools and consider how a few small changes to our zoning codes, ones that could be made right now, could remove the barriers that prevent us from being able to make space for others and bring more people into our communities and our lives.
The cover image of this post shows the author with her grandmother and infant daughter. It was provided by the author and shared with her permission.
Marlene Druker is an architect and a Strong Town member and guest writer. She lives in Gig Harbor, Washington, where she volunteers on her city's Design Review Board and her Main Street Association's Design Committee. Marlene advocates for inclusive housing and transportation options on the Facebook page Grassroots for a Healthy Harbor and encourages everyone to Bike Gig Harbor! Want to join in? She's helping Cascade Bicycle Club with a three-day "hub and spoke" tour.