Portland's Middle Housing Success Story

Portland’s Quiet Housing Revolution: How The Residential Infill Program (RIP) is Changing the Game in The Pacific Northwest

In 2020, Portland took a bold step toward solving its housing shortage by passing the Residential Infill Project (RIP). The new policy allowed homeowners and developers to build duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and cottage clusters in areas that were previously limited to single-family homes. Instead of giant McMansions replacing modest bungalows, the city capped the size of new buildings and encouraged smaller, more affordable housing types that blend into existing neighborhoods.

The goal was clear: open up high-opportunity neighborhoods to more people while curbing runaway housing costs. And it’s starting to work. In the first few years, Portland saw a noticeable uptick in “middle housing” construction—small-scale multifamily homes that are more affordable to build and buy than detached single-family homes. These new units are often priced hundreds of thousands of dollars below typical new houses, making them accessible to buyers with more moderate incomes. From 2021 to 2024, the program has resulted in 1,400 middle housing units produced across the City, with each unit selling for between $200,000 and $300,000 less than a typical single family home in the same neighborhood.

At the same time, the program has helped slow down the pace of demolitions that were replacing modest homes with luxury ones. By legalizing more flexible housing options while setting limits on house size, Portland has begun to thread the needle between growth and neighborhood stability. It’s not a silver bullet, but it’s one of the most ambitious housing reforms in the country—and it’s showing real promise in making Portland a more inclusive, affordable place to live.

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