The Residential Infill Project Monitoring Reports have received the 2026 OAPA Building Tomorrow Today award for a large city from the Oregon Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Portland's Residential Infill Project is one of the most consequential zoning reforms in the city's recent history. RIP expanded housing choices across Portland's single-dwelling zones while simultaneously capping the size of new single-unit homes — a dual-lever design meant to legalize more housing types while reshaping the economics of residential redevelopment so middle housing could compete.
Cascadia Partners partnered with Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability on two independent monitoring assessments, completed in 2023 and 2025, tracking production, affordability, sustainability, and code compliance as the reform matured.
The results are clear. Over 1,400 middle housing units were permitted between August 2021 and June 2024. The median closing price for a new fourplex in 2023 was $355,000, compared to $700,000 for a new single-unit home. Middle housing now accounts for roughly 30% of Portland's total citywide housing production. Demolitions have not increased, and more than 75% of new middle housing is within a quarter mile of a transit corridor.
Portland was the first city to implement this framework. The 2025 report alone has drawn nearly 10,000 readers from across the country. As HB 2001 and HB 2138 bring middle housing requirements to cities and counties statewide, these reports offer the most detailed implementation roadmap in Oregon.
Congratulations to the team: Alex Steinberger, Paul Runge, and Lydia Ness at Cascadia Partners, and to Morgan Tracy and the team at Portland's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability.
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