(SACRAMENTO, CA) — A year and a half after Sacramento adopted its groundbreaking Missing Middle Housing ordinance, city leaders are now sharply divided over whether proposed revisions will expand or restrict housing options. During Tuesday night’s meeting, councilmembers debated bulk controls, design standards, and height restrictions while city planners acknowledged the interim ordinance has failed to deliver the type of housing it was designed to enable.
OpGov.news reports several public speakers and industry advocates argued the proposed width, depth, and height restrictions would further hinder development.
"We are in a year and a half, and we have not seen a single project between three and twenty units. That was the entire point of the ordinance,” Vice Chair of Planning and Design Commission Dov Kadin cited, pointing to data showing only duplexes and single-unit projects have moved forward. “By the city’s own analysis, three‑quarters of market‑rate units were expected to fall in the three‑to‑eight‑unit range, yet we haven’t seen a single one. We have to take that seriously.”
“What we have in the interim ordinance is not working,” Kadin said. “We need to think about how to make this more flexible, not less. The easiest way to do that is to allow simple three‑story buildings — no width or depth requirements, no pitched roof mandates. Just a simple to understand code that allows small‑scale builders to actually build."
Councilmember Catie Maple pushed planners on whether the proposed changes amounted to a new form of bulk control under a different name. “We are now saying move away from bulk control… some suggestions with the width and depth is that we are creating a different kind of bulk control,” she said.
“It is hard to buy a single-family home or duplex in Sacramento… what if we could add density in a way that is more gentle?” Maple said, urging staff to avoid new constraints that could block three-story construction.
Councilmember Lisa Kaplan added a personal dimension, sharing her experience buying her first home. " My first house — a 917‑square‑foot, two‑bedroom, two‑bath zero‑lot‑line home in South Natomas — I bought 25 years ago when I was 26 and making $46,000 a year.
Would these proposed changes prevent something like that from being possible today? That’s what I’m thinking about. Housing costs have skyrocketed. I was able to get in only because I qualified for a down‑payment assistance program and a first‑time homebuyer loan. That allowed me to buy my second house, where there were only four feet between homes — a two‑story, three‑bedroom, two‑and‑a‑half‑bath — before eventually moving into the home I’m in now with my husband.”
“What I’m hearing from this generation is that they don’t have the same opportunities,” Kaplan said. “I was lucky in my twenties. Those in their twenties and early thirties today don’t have that same capability."
Troy Sankey, member of Strong SacTown, stated: " Stacked triplexes have stood across Sacramento’s central city for over a century — proven, without incentives or subsidies.”
“Allowing traditional stacked six‑plexes in existing neighborhoods adds homes without requiring new streets or pipes, which are our city’s biggest maintenance liabilities,” Sankey said. “That’s fiscal common sense, which is more important than ever in Sacramento.”
Council sentiment appeared to coalesce around preserving the interim ordinance while removing bulk controls, with multiple members calling for a streamlined and flexible framework.
“We need more housing yesterday, today, and tomorrow,” Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes said, summing up the urgency.
City staff will return later this year with revised code language following community outreach and council direction.
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