Middle Housing: Updates, Resources and the Road to 2030

“Middle housing” generally describes a range of multi-unit or clustered housing types—such as triplexes, quadplexes, and small apartment buildings—that fall between detached single-family or low-rise townhomes governed by the International Residential Code® (IRC), and larger multifamily developments. Like the latter, middle housing is governed by the International Building Code® (IBC). 

In recent years, middle housing has been the subject of increased interest from state and local jurisdictions exploring a variety of policy, zoning, and regulatory approaches.  

As part of its role in ensuring model building codes keep pace with state and local priorities, the International Code Council (ICC) has prepared materials to better identify applicable code requirements for middle housing, tracked developments in the 2027 I-Code development cycle, and has launched additional consensus building forums to facilitate additional discussions for future code updates.  

A Dedicated Multifamily Housing Resource

ICC has finalized a new publication that compiles provisions from the 2024 IBC that are applicable to a range of multifamily and middle housing types (R-2 and R-3 occupancies). The publication is intended to assist building safety professionals, designers and policymakers in identifying relevant requirements within the code and applying them in practice. 

The publication will be available in print and online through Digital Codes Premium, here. ICC will publish an updated multifamily housing resource capturing relevant provisions from the 2027 IBC once the 2027 I-Code update cycle has completed.  

2027 I-Code Developments

Middle housing issues were also addressed through the ICC code development process during the April 2026 Public Comment Hearings (PCH) held in Hartford, Connecticut. For instance, governmental members voted 86 to 34 in favor of the IBC – Means of Egress Code Development Committee-approved proposal that would permit single exit up to four stories (see E24-24).  

The proposal has moved to “Approved as Modified at the Committee Action Hearing 2  (AMC2)” status through the preliminary 2026 Group A&B online governmental consensus vote (OGCV). Results are now available on the 2024-2026 Code Development page.  

The online posting of the final action 2027 Code Development Cycle Group A & B results, including OGCV results, will occur following the Validation Committee’s certification of the OGCV and report to the ICC Board of Directors (see Section 13 of CP28 Code Development).  

Take Part in Developing a New Guideline

In advance of the launch of the 2030 I-Code cycle, ICC has initiated a new guideline development effort to capture best practices for middle housing. This effort is intended to provide near-term support for jurisdictions and project teams working with these housing types. The guideline is expected to provide informational and technical context that can complement the model codes and support community decision-making.  

The guideline initiative (G13) will be coordinated with and complement a previously announced Building Code Action Committee (BCAC) subgroup, which is tasked with identifying longer-term topics for potential future consideration in the 2030 I-Codes.  

Interested parties can sign up through ICC’s Committee Application Page, clicking on “Interested Party Lists,” and requesting to be added to the G13 High Density Multifamily Housing (Missing Middle) and BCAC – Residential – High Density Multifamily Housing list.  

Signing up takes less than a minute and helps ensure that a broad range of perspectives will inform this important work.