A Brief History of EHO

Arlington County’s path toward adoption of its Expanded Housing Options (EHO) zoning ordinance was a multi-year research and public engagement effort. See below for an overview of the steps involved. 

Jump to year: 2015 > 2016-2018 > 2019 > 2020 > 2021 > 2022 > 2023

2015: Affordable Housing Master Plan is Adopted

Examining opportunities to diversify Arlington’s housing stock has been called out as a goal since the Affordable Housing Master Plan (AHMP), an element of the County’s Comprehensive Plan, was adopted in 2015. This plan was itself the product of three years of intensive study guided by an 18-member Affordable Housing Working Group. The AHMP’s goals, objectives and policy directives provide specific direction to address what has since become known as “missing middle housing.”

  • Encourage production and preservation of family-sized (e.g. 3+bedroom) moderately-priced ownership units (1.2.2).

  • Explore flexibility in housing types and residential uses in single-family neighborhoods (1.2.3). 

2016 - 2018: Community-Led Education and Discussion

In 2016, the nonprofit organization Alliance for Housing Solutions (now known as NVAHA - Arlington Housing Alliance) began its own multi-year education process to better understand what “missing middle housing” entailed and how it might be applicable to Arlington. The group held public forums and presented to numerous community groups about the concept over this multi-year period.

Major forums with a focus on missing middle housing, housing choice and diversity (many event videos can be found here) included:

  • 2016 Leckey Forum: Finding the Missing Middle with keynote by Daniel Parolek from Opticos Design, creator of the term “Missing Middle Housing.”

  • 2018 Leckey Forum: Confronting Diversity with keynote by Senator Tim Kaine (VA).

  • 2019 Leckey Forum: Planning for Equity and Affordability with keynote by Andrea Brennan from Minneapolis.

  • 2021 Leckey Forum: How Can Arlington Solve the Missing Middle Housing Puzzle? with keynote by Daniel Parolek from Opticos Design.

The public forum in 2016 was accompanied by a Missing Middle Gallery that was shared in locations across the County to engage Arlington residents in conversations and provide visual examples of how the different housing types could fit into existing neighborhoods. In early 2017, the gallery was hosted for several months in the main lobby of the County’s Ellen Bozman Government Center as a public education tool. 

Other community organizations also held public forums on missing middle housing issues during this time, including the Arlington chapter of League of Women Voters (2018) and the Arlington Committee of 100 (now Advance Arlington) (2019).

2017: Missing Middle Housing Enters Political Dialogue

In 2017, a new County Board member, Erik Gutshall, was elected following years of service on the Planning Commission and Transportation Commission. In his campaign he advocated for Arlington to address the need for “missing middle housing” through zoning reforms. While in office he brought greater attention to the issue and began important discussions about how these reforms could be carried out. Tragically, his death from brain cancer in 2020 foreclosed his ability to see this become a reality. 

2019: Housing Arlington Initiative Begins

In an effort to bring additional focus and energy to the County’s housing programs (driven in part by the recent announcement of Amazon’s selection of Arlington for HQ2), the County Board established the Housing Arlington Initiative in March 2019. This umbrella program was designed to address housing affordability on many fronts - to expand the supply of housing, broaden the types of housing available, and preserve or increase the supply of affordable housing units. The Missing Middle Housing Study (MMHS) was included as one of the land use tools being pursued within this larger Housing Arlington initiative, and an initial Study Framework was released in December 2019. 

2020: Missing Middle Housing Study is Launched

The MMHS was officially launched in Fall of 2020 to explore how a variety of housing types could help address gaps in Arlington’s housing choices. The study framework and the Final Scope acknowledged that Arlington’s vision to be a diverse and inclusive community depends on being able to offer a full range of housing types and affordability levels. The study was also guided by a robust community engagement process that would use multiple outreach methods to enable broad participation. 

The study was broken into three phases:

  • Phase 1 - Building a Common Understanding

  • Phase 2 - Focused Study

  • Phase 3 - Implementation

Each of these phases involved extensive analysis by staff and consultants as well as a comprehensive public engagement process. 

During 2020, the County published a detailed Missing Middle Housing Study Research Compendium - a series of reports released between June and August of 2020. 

The Research Compendium was a comprehensive review of issues related to missing middle housing. 

In Fall 2020, staff began the public engagement process with a series of meetings, including a County Board work session in September and a major public kick off event in October 2020. 

2021: Detailed Evaluation and Recommendations

During 2021, the County carried out additional public engagement, including a five-session Listening Tour that provided opportunities for residents across the County to provide input. Materials from these engagement sessions are available on the County’s Missing Middle Housing Study documents page. 

Phase 1 concluded with a report with recommendations for further detailed study of specific housing types, and laid out a set of priorities and concerns based on community feedback. The draft report was reviewed by a comprehensive list of County commissions and community groups:

  • Long Range Planning Committee

  • Transportation Commission

  • Housing Commission

  • Arlington County Civic Federation

  • Commission on Aging

  • Climate Change, Energy and Environment Commission

  • Joint Facilities Advisory Commission

  • Forestry and Natural Resources Commission.

Phase 2, which began in the 4th quarter of 2021, involved consideration of several factors that would influence the study’s outcomes: design, community improvements, public facilities, sustainability and environment, locations, financial feasibility and economics, and equity.

2022: Draft EHO Framework Published

Arlington County staff released a draft Framework for Expanding Housing Choice in May of 2022. The framework presented a preliminary approach that would:

  • Allow townhouses and buildings with 2-8 units in areas previously limited to single-family homes only.

  • Duplicate the same building and zoning standards as single-family homes.

  • Set maximum building sizes by unit type.

  • Reduce parking requirements.

Staff accepted public comment and received feedback on the framework in a County Board work session in July. Staff then incorporated the County Board feedback and in October 2022, began detailed discussions of zoning ordinance options in public meetings with the Long Range Planning Committee and Zoning Committee of the Planning Commission. 

In December 2022, staff brought a set of detailed draft zoning ordinance options and General Land Use Plan (GLUP) amendments to the Planning Commission for review. The Planning Commission recommended that the County Board advertise public hearings on the zoning amendments for adoption in early 2023. 

2023: EHO Zoning Ordinance is Advertised and Adopted

On January 21, 2023, the County Board voted to advertise public hearings on the Expanded Housing Options zoning ordinance and GLUP amendments. 

During February and March 2023, the proposed amendments were reviewed in public meetings with the Housing Commission, Transportation Commission, and Planning Commission. Each of these commissions, following meetings at which hundreds of public speakers eventually testified, recommended that the County Board adopt the proposed amendments.

On March 22, 2023, the Arlington County Board voted unanimously to amend the zoning ordinance and the General Land Use Plan (GLUP) to include Expanded Housing Options (EHO), also known as Missing Middle Housing (MMH). This historic vote ended exclusionary zoning in Arlington, a nearly 100-year old policy that had permitted only single-family detached homes on over 70% of Arlington's residential land. 

Now, EHO provides an optional by-right development path that property owners can use to build or renovate homes to meet the growing demand for housing in Arlington. The final version of the EHO ordinance states that these residential buildings can include up to 6 units (down from the initial 8-unit recommendation) and must meet the same minimum setbacks, maximum lot coverage and height as single-family detached homes in these areas. EHO developments are subject to additional requirements that do not apply to single-family detached homes, such as design and screening features, maximum gross floor area limits, and additional tree planting standards. The ordinance also includes an annual cap of 58 developments, which expires in 2027. The ordinance officially went into effect and the County began accepting EHO permit applications on July 1, 2023.

A new webpage with details on Expanded Housing Options permits, how to apply, FAQs, a permit tracker and other materials is now available.