Episode #39
3 Building Code Rules That Block Missing Middle Housing
Small multifamily housing is illegal and too expensive to build. Architect Sam Naylor breaks down the building code reforms that could unlock the "missing middle." We know zoning blocks housing. The quieter, equally powerful force is the building code. the invisible rulebook on stairs, sprinklers, and elevators that almost nobody outside the trade ever reads. When a project crosses from two units to three, it leaves the residential code and enters the "commercial" code, where a triple decker answers to nearly the same rules as a skyscraper. Sam Naylor, co-founder of the design firm Nominal, practicing architect, and adjunct faculty at the University of Minnesota, returns to walk through his new report with Boston Indicators (with support from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies). It's a working map of why three-to-twenty-four-unit buildings stopped getting built, and a menu of fixes. What you'll get: Who this is for: architects, planners, housing advocates, and small developers who keep running into the same invisible wall and want to know where to push. Chapters: 00:00 - Meet Sam Naylor and His Code Report 00:59 - What "Small Multifamily" Really Means 03:14 - Building Code vs. Zoning Code 06:00 - The Sprinkler Requirement Problem 08:12 - How America Ended Up With Two Codes 13:01 - Missing Middle: Everyone's Missing 16:05 - Why We Only Build Five-Over-Ones 18:08 - The One-Third Cost Jump 21:32 - Code Hacking Around the Rules 24:17 - Syncing Zoning and Building Code 29:12 - Digging Out: Sprinklers and Elevators 39:51 - A Vision for Shorter, Denser Cities Resources:
