The Missing Middle initiative is a community improvement strategy designed to reverse decades of systemic disinvestment that created thousands of vacant lots and "missing" middle-density buildings across the South and West sides. It leverages City land and public financing for construction of new market-rate homes. 

Led by the Department of Planning and Development (DPD), the April 2025 listing includes 54 vacant City lots in West Chatham, South Chicago and Morgan Park for redevelopment as two- to six-unit residential buildings. The program will expand to other communities in future phases. 

Refer to the Missing Middle webpage on the City’s website for background information, application process details and webinar registration. Applicants must attend or watch at least one informational webinar being held on April 9 or April 11 in order to complete an application.

Applications will be accepted until 11:59 p.m. Friday, May 16, 2025, through DPD’s ChiBlockBuilder land sales portal. When visiting ChiBlockBuilder, select “Missing Middle” under the “Property Sales Program” drop-down menu to apply for a specific Missing Middle cluster.

Eligible City-owned parcels are being offered in 11 clusters, each containing at least four parcels, and applicants must apply for at least one cluster. Applicants may also apply for multiple clusters, but each cluster requires its own application. Applications must include a projected development plan with construction timelines, conceptual design plans and a draft pro forma. Eligible housing types include additional dwelling units (ADUs), townhomes, two-flats, three-flats or six-flats. 

No. The Missing Middle program is specific to build residential units. If an applicant is interested in other uses such as gardens or neighborhood open space, please visit the ChiBlockBuilder website for any open space parcels that are for sale.

DPD is offering financial incentives in the form of land cost write-downs ($1 per parcel) and up to $50,000-$150,000 subsidies per housing unit, depending on an evaluation of the developers’ proposed financing plans. Funding is allocated from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024-28 Housing and Economic Development Bond.

The maximum per-unit sale prices must be commensurate for households with an income of 140% of the area median income. For any development proposed under Missing Middle that includes more than 10 units of housing on contiguous sites, the City’s Affordable Residential Ordinance (ARO) will apply. Sites may be considered contiguous if they do not front the same right-of-way but are adjacent across an alley. Further review may be required to confirm whether the ARO applies to a certain proposal. There are no income limits for home buyers of non-ARO units.

For detailed information on the environmental requirements that apply to all eligible Missing Middle parcels, please see the “Environmental Requirements” section on page 14 of the Missing Middle Program Guide.

City-owned lots for Missing Middle program are either zoned RT-4 or are expected to be rezoned to RT-4 or B2-2 in coming months. Zoning district details can be found in the zoning ordinance.  

Zoning ordinances were introduced to City Council in April. These zoning changes are expected to be completed by DPD prior to property dispositions to selected applicants. The maps on pages 13-14 of the Missing Middle Program Guide identify the boundaries of the zoning changes that will permit Missing Middle housing development by-right. 

The application submission and requirements for all Missing Middle parcels are the same regardless of the B2 or RT-4 zoning. B2 allows residential uses on the ground floor, so we anticipate the developer will develop a 100% residential building. All the other lots will be zoned RT-4. 

Applications will be evaluated based on the applicant’s experience with developing similar projects, the financial feasibility of the project, the design quality of the proposal, the number of units proposed and the overall catalytic impact on the community. Details on the evaluation criteria can be found on page 6 of the Missing Middle Program Guide. 

Applicant selections for the April 2025 listing are expected to be announced in Summer 2025. 

All of the names and email addresses of participants of the April 9th and April 11th informational are available on the Missing Middle website, unless the participant has requested their information to be omitted.  

Forming partnerships with webinar participants is optional. However, it is the responsibility of the applicant to form partnerships prior to application submittal if they would like to do so. As identified on page 6 of the program guide, priority will be given to applicants who demonstrate team qualifications, have the capacity to execute the project in a timely fashion and form partnerships with less-experienced developers to help build capacity.

Upon selection, developers will be expected to expeditiously advance to lot acquisition, permitting and vertical construction, with the intent of starting construction in Q1 2026. Selected developers will be expected to obtain permits via the Department of Buildings Self-Certification Permit Program.

Developers seeking financial assistance must enter into a Redevelopment Agreement (RDA) with the City. The RDA establishes certain requirements related to the development schedule, financing plan, land acquisition and City departmental approvals, among others.

Yes. The selected respondent must comply with the City’s construction requirements. During construction, at least 26% of qualified project costs must be paid to City-certified Minority Business Enterprises (MBEs) and at least 6% must be paid to City-certified Woman Business Enterprises (WBEs). In addition, Chicago residents must perform at least half of all construction-worker hours. Projects must pay prevailing wage rates for all construction jobs. 

The Sustainable Development Policy will apply to any building with six or more units developed under the Missing Middle initiative, provided the developer is receiving City financial assistance. For qualifying projects, developers will be required to meet the new construction standards of the policy by achieving at least 100 points from the approved strategies.

No. One of the goals of Missing Middle is community-wealth-building, and developers must make buildings available to owner-occupants.

Developers may sell multi-unit buildings as condominium units or sell the entire building to a buyer who will occupy at least one of the units, and they may rent out the other units.

Actual prices remain to be determined. Two-flats are generally estimated between $450,000 and $550,000, three-flats from $550,000 to $700,000 and six-flats from $1.35 million to $1.65 million. These figures are subject to change based on actual costs and other factors.

Priority will be given to developers with the capacity to start and complete multiple buildings simultaneously, but DPD recognizes potential cost efficiencies from work proceeding sequentially to maximize project phasing and construction crew resources.

The Chicago Department of Buildings provides a list of self-certified architects. The City does not have a list of certified contractors.

As long as the permit can be issued via the Self Certified Permit Program. Also note that design quality will be evaluated for the submissions in relation to the quality of the materials and relationship to the neighborhood context and culture.

The Missing Middle initiative requires that the price of for-sale units be affordable to households with 140% of AMI. This differs from the ARO, which states that the price of owner-occupied units must be affordable to households earning no more than 100% of AMI. The ARO will only apply to Missing Middle proposals with 10 or more units of housing on contiguous sites.

For a two-flat, assuming three-bedroom units and a minimum household size of four people, a sales price higher than approximately $430,000 per unit would trigger sales price reduction to be commensurate with 140% AMI. For a six-flat, assuming two-bedroom units and a minimum household size of three people, a sales price higher than approximately $390,000 per unit would trigger sales price reduction to be commensurate with 140% AMI. 

Homebuyers shall be required to execute and record at the time of the homebuyer’s purchase of the unit a recapture mortgage on the property for a period of five years.

The AMI chart is available on the Department of Housing website.

An applicant’s pro forma should identify all sources of funding that would be committed to the proposed development, including private equity and debt equity. There are no eligibility requirements for sources of funding that can be proposed in an application.

For the application, providing a budget and a funding strategy is fine. If selected, developer teams will need to show evidence of project funding secured before closing. 

Proposed design plans may be conceptual, based on a rough estimate of the lot dimensions, or reference a previously completed project on a lot with similar dimensions. Most eligible parcels are consistent with “typical” residential lots in the City of Chicago with a width of 25-30 feet and a depth of 125 feet. All eligible Missing Middle parcels are in the RT-4 zoning district or are in the process of being rezoned to RT-4 or B2-2.

There are no residency requirements to apply to the Missing Middle initiative.

DPD is planning for a community engagement event in fall 2025 to introduce the selected applicants for all awarded clusters. Applications that are not selected will not be made public.

The Missing Middle initiative incentivizes private development on City-owned lots. Therefore, the process of selecting buyers and selling the housing units will be the responsibility of the developer.

No, there will not be any property tax subsidies for buyers. Assessments and tax payments, as determined by the Cook County Assessor’s Office, will apply. Information on Cook County's tax exemptions for homeowner-occupied primary residences, seniors, and others is available online.

Applicants may pursue funding from such entities, but DPD is not providing those resources directly to potential applicants. Applicants may consider the Department of Housing’s Building Neighborhoods and Affordable Homes Program.

Yes, future phases will include City-owned properties in other community areas on the South and West sides of the city.

Breaking ground on one lot may be considered adequate for meeting the target development timeline. The City and selected developer will negotiate project phasing and timeline as part of a Redevelopment Agreement. 

If one of the parcels is not feasible for development, DPD will negotiate potential alternatives with the selected applicant. This may involve locating another City-owned parcel in the area that would be feasible.

DPD is seeking proposals that can be permitted as-of-right and through the Department of Buildings Self-Certification Permit Program. This will reduce the amount of time required to obtain a building permit.

Although the exact terms of the financial assistance will be negotiated in the process of drafting the Redevelopment Agreement (RDA), DPD provides this type of grant funding through reimbursement. The per unit subsidy is not a loan or line of credit that would need to be repaid.

Feel free to submit for all the clusters that you are interested in. If you apply for more than one, it doesn’t mean you will be declined or approved for all of them. DPD may choose to award an applicant for one cluster and deny them for another.

Although the exact terms of the financial assistance will be negotiated in the process of drafting the RDA, DPD expects the grant funding will be dispersed through reimbursements at completion of 50% of the total number of buildings in the cluster, a reimbursement at substantial completion of all of the buildings in the cluster, and at 100% (Certificate of Completion) of the cluster. 

DPD will be reviewing each of the submissions, including evaluation of the proposed budget and financial request.

Yes. The city’s interests will be protected via a subordinate recapture agreement, and the RDA obligations would run with the land and obligate any future builder to comply with the RDA, regardless of a foreclosure event. 

Yes. These programs are primarily led by the Chicago Department of Housing or through the Illinois Housing Development Authority, which supports affordable housing including senior housing through tax credits and other funding.