2026 Regional Solutions: Finding Middle Housing

Join us for Regional Solutions: Finding Middle Housing. As communities across Utah face consistent housing affordability challenges, planners, policymakers, and community and economic development experts must work together to find solutions that address Missing Middle Housing.

Why Is This So Important?

• Housing Costs: With the median home sale price being unaffordable for the average Utah household, planners must understand the impact of market dynamics on housing affordability.
• Development Pressure: Salt Lake County isn’t getting any bigger. As our communities become built out and as housing demand rises, cities across the county are feeling intense pressure from developers to build.
• Financial Sustainability: Cities can create thoughtful plans that support strategic growth and financial sustainability. Through the establishment of mixed-use, centered development, communities can generate more sustainable revenue while facilitating affordability.

Join us on September 30th for "2026 Regional Solutions: Finding Middle Housing," where we will confront these pressing issues and explore innovative strategies to implement Missing Middle Housing.

Each attendee will receive a free copy of Daniel Parolek's "Missing Middle Housing" book.

Image: Daniel Parolek/Island Press

Networking & Collaboration: In-person events are powerful for building connections. Meeting with other city and county staff, planners, developers, and community leaders who are also working on middle-housing initiatives. These relationships can lead to partnerships, joint projects, or peer learning.

Advocacy & Influence: If you’re a decision-maker, knowledge and connections gained here could help you drive real change. Attending demonstrates commitment to housing innovation, which can bolster your credibility within your organization or community. In addition, if you are in public service or advocacy, showing up in-person gives you a platform to be seen, to influence, and to voice community needs.

Professional Development: Stay up-to-date on policy trends, design innovation, and best practices. Hearing expert talks, visioning sessions, lessons learned, and success stories can energize you — sometimes helping you bring a fresh perspective back to your day job or community.

Engaging, Creditable Sessions: You can look forward to diving into an interactive workshop, listening to a dynamic panel session, and hearing from the award-winning urban design strategist, author, and “recovering architect” Daniel Parolek. Some sessions may qualify for continuing education units.

Actionable Insights and Resources: This event promises practical tools and “real examples” that attendees can use in their own communities. You’ll likely come away with concrete policy ideas, planning strategies, and design concepts for implementing middle-housing types.

We’re thrilled to announce our 2026 Regional Solutions keynote speaker: Daniel Parolek. Parolek served as the keynote speaker in 2021 when he highlighted the region’s issues related to “Missing Middle Housing”. This year, Daniel will equip event attendees with the tools needed to help solve Salt Lake County’s middle-housing crisis.

Daniel Parolek is an award-winning urban design strategist, author, and “recovering architect” known for leading transformative planning, design, and zoning initiatives that expand housing choices and promote walkable urban communities. His experiences living in places ranging from small Midwestern towns to major global cities like Chicago, New York, Rome, and Porto have informed his broad understanding of urban form.

Daniel is widely recognized for launching the international Missing Middle Housing movement and for his acclaimed book, Missing Middle Housing: Thinking Big and Building Small to Respond to the Housing Crisis, which outlines proven strategies for delivering diverse, people-focused housing options.

Daniel’s expertise has guided cities, regional governments, non-profits, and developers worldwide in creating vibrant, walkable communities. His notable collaborations include the design of Culdesac Tempe—the largest planned car-free community in the U.S.—a citywide

Missing Middle strategy for Sacramento, a sustainable regional growth plan for Gabon, and numerous form-based zoning codes across the country.

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