In an effort to encourage denser, more diverse and more affordable housing, the City of Bellingham is exploring the possibility of so-called “middle housing” and allowing it in nearly all residential zones. Middle housing consists of multi-family housing smaller than apartment complexes, like duplexes and townhouses.
The move comes ahead of a state mandate. The Washington state Legislature passed the “missing middle” bill in 2023 to encourage housing development, and if Bellingham doesn’t adopt its own set of regulations allowing middle housing in all residential zones by June 2026, state code will supersede local code.
In November 2024, Mayor Kim Lund issued an executive order to expand housing options and accelerate residential development in Bellingham. About 31% of renters in Bellingham pay more than half their income toward rent, and 54% of renters are somewhat rent-burdened, meaning they pay more than a third of their income toward housing, according to a city report. In 2024, the city issued permits for 534 units of housing, only half of its goal.
Community development and planning director Blake Lyon explained to the Bellingham City Council on Monday, Feb. 24 that allowing the “infill toolkit” in all residential areas in the city would hopefully spur production.
The infill toolkit, adopted in 2009, is a set of development standards and guidelines for middle housing forms. The toolkit includes multiplexes up to four-plexes, courtyard cottages, detached houses on small lots and townhouses — housing types that are often more cost-effective to build and more affordable to occupy than single-family housing. Middle housing is designed to counteract urban sprawl by filling vacant and underused land in the city with “gentle density.”
Lyon told the council middle housing isn’t a new idea — the form is well-represented in pre-World War II developments around the city — but in the mid-20th century, the country pulled back from middle housing and focused on auto-centric development and detached dwellings. Now, more than 70% of land zoned as residential in Bellingham is built up with single-family housing.
Since Bellingham’s infill toolkit was adopted, 450 infill units, mostly townhouses, have been built in the city. As of the end of February 2025, there are 136 units under construction and 168 in the permit application phase. While that may not seem like a significant amount of housing, Lyon pointed out in a follow-up interview that the Great Recession resulted in around five years of minimal residential construction in Bellingham.
Then, a few early adopters started to use the infill toolkit. Local development company The RJ Group finished the first significant infill project, the Peabody Townhomes in the Fountain District, in 2015.
“Locally, the development community was trying to wrap their heads around forms they didn’t have familiarity with,” Lyon said. “It took a couple developers to go first and prove the market.”
The infill toolkit is currently allowed mostly in multi-family residential zones, but on March 24, the city council is expected to hold a public hearing and consider an interim ordinance to expand the toolkit to all residential zones in the city, except within the Lake Whatcom watershed, where development is limited to protect the community’s drinking water.
City council member Dan Hammill said he’s heard from builders that the wait for permit approval can slow things down or increase the cost of the housing that’s eventually built.
Lyon noted the mayor’s 2024 executive order gives priority to reviewing and permitting low-income housing and infill development, and also encourages the city’s development review team to find ways to improve and speed up the approval process for housing that achieves the city’s goals.
“We’re seeing that begin to pay dividends,” Lyon said.
The city and the Whatcom Housing Alliance have hosted several walking tours to display middle housing integrated into neighborhoods like the Lettered Streets. As the city rolls out its interim ordinance, more tours and public outreach will be scheduled after the public hearing in March. Find more information about middle housing on the city website.
Julia Tellman writes about civic issues and anything else that happens to cross her desk; contact her at juliatellman@cascadiadaily.com.
