Missing Middle’s critics are launching another round of opposition as Arlington County returns to accepting permit applications for this kind of construction.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit over Arlington’s Expanded Housing Option filed an emergency motion yesterday (Monday) in the Supreme Court of Virginia. They’re seeking to block a Virginia Court of Appeals order that allows the county to resume issuing permits for multifamily construction in previously single-family-only neighborhoods.

“A stay in the Supreme Court of Virginia putting Missing Middle Housing (MMH) on hold will protect homeowners, homebuyers, renters, and developers in Arlington,” Dan Creedon, a member of the anti-Missing Middle group Neighbors for Neighborhoods, said in a press release. “If the Supreme Court reverses the Court of Appeals and MMH is again invalid — a decision that could take up to a year — illegal MMH housing will be spread across the County. Then what?”

In tandem with the emergency motion, Neighbors for Neighborhoods released a video underscoring the cost of Missing Middle housing that has already been built in Arlington and the concerns of some homeowners who live near it.

One man who lives near a six-unit building under construction in Virginia Square raised concerns about how the project at 3802 14th Street N., which is taller and has a much larger footprint than its neighbors, will impact the surrounding area.

“This is out of scale with the neighborhood,” the neighbor said in the video. “The infrastructure wasn’t designed for this, and it just doesn’t belong right here.”

Both opponents and advocates of Missing Middle housing have much to say about the cost of homes already built under the zoning change approved in March 2023. One unit of a new duplex on N. Troy Street is currently for sale for $1.6 million, at the site of single-family home that sold for about $860,000 in 2023.

Critics argue that the price tag illustrates how little this new type of housing will help middle-income people. They contrast this with the impact of affordable housing projects like the one currently underway at the Goodwill on S. Glebe Road.

“The County Board has dug in its heels on a failed MMH policy that has produced more housing units for upper-income households, but not a single one for those who need affordable housing,” Creedon said.

But Jane Green — co-founder of YIMBYs of Northern Virginia, which supports Missing Middle — noted that the Troy Street home’s price is less than the $1.8 million average sales price for detached single-family homes in Arlington last month. And it’s significantly lower than the $2.4 million average price of all newly built single-family homes in the county last year.

“The opponents of Missing Middle like to tout the relatively low price of the older home that was torn down in order to build the duplex on N. Troy, but the reality is that almost no homes selling for under $1 million in Arlington are marketable without substantial renovation,” Green told ARLnow. “Most will be torn down and if they aren’t lucky enough to become a duplex or a sixplex, they will end up as $2.4 million homes that are even less affordable.”

An opinion piece published on Greater Greater Washington last month called the six-unit project in Virginia Square “one of the most promising EHO examples under construction.” Guest contributor Jason Schwartz argued that the century-old home that this replaces, which sold for $913,000 in 2022, is “completely obsolete in the housing market.”

“These homes will be perfect for families looking for something larger than a typical apartment, but much smaller than the existing inventory of new single-family homes,” Schwartz wrote. “They will also be great options for empty-nesters or other households looking to downsize.”

This week’s anti-Missing Middle video sought more donations for the privately funded lawsuit, which will likely have to go back to a lower court for a retrial if the Virginia Supreme Court rules in favor of the defendants. A GoFundMe for the litigation has raised about $150,000, compared to the county’s legal tab of about $1.4 million, according to Neighbors for Neighborhoods.

Creedon told ARLnow that his organization hasn’t set a specific fundraising goal, since “that amount is totally dependent on what the County does on appeal and how the homeowners have to respond.”

“Imagine how many low and moderate-income households could benefit from $1.4 million — the amount of taxpayer funds that the County has spent on its outside lawyers, not to mention the huge amounts it will continue to spend defending MMH,” Creedon wrote.

Green, meanwhile, agreed that Missing Middle won’t solve affordability issues in Northern Virginia, but argued that it will help.

“YIMBYs of NoVA recognize the continued need to increase the supply of attainable homes for families at all income levels,” she said. “Missing Middle is one small piece, and we are committed to finding more solutions. A future without EHO housing is not a viable option to increase the middle-income housing supply.”