www.opticosdesign.com

National Issue – Local Reform

Our nation’s housing issues persist despite ongoing efforts to curb the shortage of affordable homes and high rental costs. Research estimates there is an insufficient supply anywhere from 5-8 million units. Half of renters pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities, which is considered cost-burdened. Locally, Knoxville TN leads our country in highest percentage increase in home value since 2019 at roughly 86% equating to an almost $190,000 increase per home and average rents have increased 60%. Conversely, wages have increased less than 27% percent in that same time.^{1, 2} 

Fortunately, Knoxville’s progressive municipality has focused on a multifaceted approach to address these ongoing housing issues. Through progressive zoning reform and updated code adoption, the City has unlocked by right accessory dwelling units, legalized single stair building code, and reinstated middle housing typologies as viable options towards affordable housing density and progress.

¹www.etnrealtors.com ²www.knoxvilletn.gov

www.searshouses.com

AIA East Tennessee’s Mission

With the mission to lead East Tennessee in developing our cities, communities, and built environment, AIA East Tennessee has aligned with the City’s momentum by hosting an annual housing design competition. Since 2024, HOUSING ETN has served as a platform for architects, students, and the broader design community to be a part of proposing inventive solutions to address the extant housing issues of our time. See the links below for submissions from both the 2024 Accessory Dwelling Unit competition and the 2025 Single Stair Housing competition with entries from over 10 states.

This year, AIA East Tennessee is continuing this collective progress by hosting the 2026 Middle Housing Catalog | Summer Charrette. Middle Housing refers to residential structures that are comparable to single-family houses in size and scale but contain more than one unit. Middle housing has the potential to unlock “gentle density” among our existing single family building stock context; a converse to the typical large scale multifamily housing projects prevalent today.  

www.theurbanist.org

Historic Framework for the Future

Referencing historic examples like the Sears Roebuck Catalog homes and the Knoxville Small House Bureau collection³, the required submission format will be limited in an effort to encourage designers to generate and submit as many unique middle housing ideas as possible for each offered typology. The culmination of the competition being a published collection of the submitted middle housing designs.

Though there is no one single solution in addressing our ongoing housing issues. Each member of the design community has agency in contributing to its progress and we have the chance to be thought leaders of housing progress through our unique abilities. By curating what is possible with Middle Housing, we hope to share a vision of neighborhoods that can be more sustainable, contextual, and beautiful for all.

³https://cmdc.knoxlib.org/digital/collection