"What we know is that a single-family home is an expensive housing product because you’ve got one unit sitting on one parcel of land,” said Mandy De Mayo, executive director of HousingWorks Austin, an affordable housing advocacy group. “And if you can allocate the land costs to multiple units it makes it a little bit more affordable.”
Outside discussions of affordability, De Mayo said, missing middle housing simply provides choice.
“A single-family home is really designed for a family,” she said. “Well, what happens when you age and you no longer want a 2,000-square-foot home? Where do you go? The idea would be that in your neighborhood, you don’t have to move to a different part of the city or a different city. There would be other options for you.”
https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2017/05/missing-middle-housing/