Smart Growth America and our project partners, the Housing Multiplier Project and the Greater Ohio Policy Center, are launching a new statewide initiative to create pre-approved design plans to accelerate the development of missing-middle housing across Ohio.

The project will add small multifamily and missing-middle housing plans to an existing library of pre-approved plans, giving developers a faster, simpler path to building urgently needed affordable housing in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati.

Smart Growth America will provide technical assistance on zoning and permitting and help guide the project’s strategic direction, drawing on its work with communities across the country to advance housing, infill development, and transit-oriented development. The Housing Multiplier Project will lead the design process, including identifying and managing the architect commissioned to create plans that work for stick-built and modular housing. On the ground, the Greater Ohio Policy Center will oversee the day-to-day outreach and engagement and gather feedback from local officials, housing manufacturers, developers, lenders, and realtors.

As policymakers at every level work to address the ongoing housing affordability and supply shortage, pre-approved plans could become a promising new tool to speed up new home production. Despite growing interest in pre-approved plans as a tool to address the housing crisis, few states have put them into practice at scale.

Implementing ready-to-use plans in existing walkable, transit-oriented places can help lower both housing and transportation costs while supporting more connected, healthy, and resilient communities. This work builds on SGA’s efforts to make it easier to build more housing of the right types in the right places where people already live. Pairing zoning solutions with practical tools such as pre-approved plans makes it easier for developers to build housing in well-connected places and to create communities where everyone can thrive.

Beyond Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, the plans developed from this project could eventually be used in other Ohio communities through the Greater Ohio Policy Center’s network of pre-approved plans, a new initiative helping 12 participating cities streamline affordable housing development. The project could also serve as a model for other states seeking to develop and implement pre-approved housing plans of their own.

Learn about our requirements for the commissioned architect and submit a proposal in response to the Request for Proposal.