KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Knoxville city leaders held an open house for people to ask questions and discuss plans the city has to add more "middle housing" on Thursday.
The city says "missing middle housing" looks like duplexes, triplexes, quads, and townhomes. They say the city has decades of zoning codes that prioritized single-family homes and apartment complexes.
Many city leaders have discussed "missing middle housing" and said it could provide more options for people searching for housing. Hancen Sale is the Government Affairs and Policy Director of the East Tennessee Realtors association. He says that the lack of affordable housing options can cause problems in the future.
"People who have lived in Knoxville for a long time won't be able to stay here," Sale said. "We're gonna have a hard time having housing that meets a price point for many of our community's most valuable workers."
He also mentions that this is one solution to solve the issue, but it has its downfalls.
"There's not tons of vacant lots," Sale said. "So it's really an incremental approach at best. I think that's important to put into context because it's certainly not as though we are going to make a change that would dramatically impact our city."
He said the city should consider other solutions alongside the addition of "missing middle housing."
"We need to talk about taking an 'all of the above' approach to housing," Sale said. "Investment on our commercial corridors and using developments and incentives to realize more residential housing along our major corridors and in other places."
There is another open house scheduled for Monday, Sept. 25 from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. It'll be at the John T. O’Connor Center.