These “Cities of Yes” are making real progress on the Housing-Ready City Checklist—legalizing backyard cottages, reducing minimum lot sizes, eliminating parking mandates, and allowing modest multi-family homes by right. Earlier this month, the Dallas City Council unanimously approved an update to the city’s residential development ordinance, allowing buildings with up to eight dwelling units–sometimes referred to as octoplexes–to be built under the simpler, less costly residential code. The change is a win for what planners and housing advocates call “missing middle” housing—duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, cottage courts, and other small-scale multi-unit buildings that fill the gap between single-family homes and large apartment complexes.