Delivering Missing-Middle Housing through Small-Scale Development

The City of Rogers is working to turn recent missing-middle housing policy and design into tangible housing outcomes that expand access to attainable housing and strengthen neighborhood stability. The FUSE Executive Fellow will help the City launch and scale its Pattern Zones program by aligning local builders, financing partners, local utilities, and internal City workflows to support housing development on a scale that allows anyone to be a housing developer. The fellowship will ensure Pattern Zones integrate with regional growth priorities, creating complete, sustainable neighborhoods. This is a two-year fellowship, with Year One focused on discovery, strategy development, and early implementation, and Year Two focused on scaling impact and embedding sustainable practices within City operations.

Fellowship Dates: October 26, 2026 – October 22, 2027

Salary: Executive Fellows are FUSE employees and receive an annual salary of $95,000. Fellows can also access various health, dental, and vision insurance benefits. This amount is not representative of market-rate salaries for the experienced professionals in our program but is intended as compensation for a year of public service.

ABOUT THE FUSE EXECUTIVE FELLOWSHIP

FUSE is a national nonprofit dedicated to increasing the capacity of local governments to work more effectively for communities. We embed private sector executives in city and county agencies to lead projects that improve public services and accelerate systems change. Since 2012, FUSE has led over 400 projects in 58 governments across 26 states, impacting a total population equivalent to 1 in 10 Americans.

When designing each fellowship project, FUSE works closely with government partners and community stakeholders to define a scope of work that will achieve substantive progress toward high-priority local needs. Projects address today’s most pressing challenges and opportunities, including affordable housing, economic mobility, climate resilience, public safety, infrastructure, technology, and more.

FUSE conducts a full executive search for each individual project to ensure that the selected candidate has at least 15 years of professional experience, the required competencies for the role, and deep connections to the community being served.

Executive Fellows are embedded in government agencies working with senior leaders for at least one year of full-time work. Prospective responsibilities may include thorough data analytics and research, developing enhanced operations and financial models, building change management and strategic planning processes, and/or building broad coalitions to support project implementation efforts. Executive Fellows are data-driven and results-oriented and able to effectively manage complex projects. They build strong relationships with a broad array of stakeholders, foster alignment within and across various layers of government, and build partnerships between governments and communities.

Throughout the fellowships, Executive Fellows receive training, coaching, and professional support to help achieve their project goals.

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Expanding access to attainable housing is critical to ensuring that growing cities remain livable, inclusive, and economically resilient. When communities lower barriers to small-scale housing development, they can increase housing choice, support neighborhood stability, and create opportunities for residents to build wealth and age in the community. Missing-middle housing, such as duplexes, accessory dwelling units, and small-footprint homes, plays a key role in this ecosystem by providing flexible options that fit within existing neighborhoods and infrastructure. Without clear implementation strategies, even well-designed housing policies may not result in built projects, limiting their impact and reinforcing disparities in who can participate in housing development and who benefits from it.

Rogers, Arkansas has taken meaningful steps to enable missing-middle housing as part of its broader growth and planning efforts. The City adopted a form-based code that allows a wider range of housing types and recently launched a Pattern Zones program that provides free, publicly funded, pre-approved residential designs tailored to local parcels and neighborhood contexts. This initiative significantly reduces design costs, permitting timelines, and regulatory uncertainty, particularly for small builders and individual property owners. These policy and design tools are now in place, and the City is now positioned to activate the Pattern Zones program at scale. With focused implementation support, Rogers can broaden participation beyond experienced developers by making it easier for local builders, individual property owners, and first-time participants to use the program effectively. This next phase creates a timely opportunity to expand access to small-scale housing development for residents with lower or moderate incomes, older adults, and local builders, enabling them to generate supplemental income, stabilize housing costs, and strengthen neighborhood stability across the city.

Rogers will partner with FUSE through a two-year Executive Fellowship to move the Pattern Zones program from policy-readiness to tangible housing outcomes. In the first year, the fellow will focus on launching and activating the program, generating early projects, and establishing feedback mechanisms based on real-world use. In the second year, the fellow will help refine and scale the program, institutionalize successful practices, and support ongoing updates to the Pattern Zones book. Ultimately, this will help Rogers strengthen its ability to deliver attainable housing, expand participation in local development, and ensure that the benefits of growth reach a broader range of residents over the long term.

PROJECT APPROACH

Beginning in Fall 2026, the FUSE Executive Fellow will work with the City of Rogers’ Community Development Department and Mayor’s Office to launch and implement the City’s Pattern Zones program and expand missing-middle housing production. Through this two-year fellowship, the fellow will help Rogers translate recent policy and design investments into tangible housing outcomes by reducing barriers to small-scale development, supporting local builders and property owners, and strengthening internal systems that enable predictable, efficient housing production. The fellow’s work will focus on aligning planning, permitting, financing, and market engagement to support broader participation in housing development and improved neighborhood stability.

The fellow will begin with 90 days of in-depth discovery and assessment. During this phase, the fellow will conduct a comprehensive listening tour with key stakeholders, including Community Development leadership, planning, engineering, building safety, utilities, communications staff, the Mayor’s Office, local builders, lenders, property owners, and other relevant partners. This process will surface insights into how the Pattern Zones program is currently understood and used, as well as identify practical barriers related to site selection, financing, permitting, and coordination. The fellow will also conduct a analysis of existing plans, zoning and development regulations, program materials, permitting data, and early usage metrics, alongside research into best practices from comparable communities that have successfully activated pre-approved housing designs or small-scale housing programs. Drawing on insights from the discovery phase, the fellow will develop refined project goals, priorities, and anticipated Year One deliverables and present them for review and approval by City leadership.

The fellow will then focus on advancing Year One strategies that translate program readiness into action. This will include identifying and mapping viable parcels for Pattern Zone development and working with the City’s online zoning platform, Gridics to implement, engaging and onboarding local builders and contractors, and coordinating with lenders and other financing partners to support small-scale housing projects. The fellow will work closely with City staff to clarify and align internal workflows related to intake, permitting, plan review, and communications, helping reduce friction and increase predictability for participants. Throughout the year, the fellow will support targeted outreach and engagement efforts to ensure that individual property owners and first-time participants can access and use the program effectively.

The fellow will also support early implementation efforts that build momentum and inform program refinement. This may include assisting with initial pilot projects, documenting user experiences, and establishing feedback mechanisms that capture lessons from real-world use. While specific strategies may evolve based on ongoing learning, the fellow’s work will remain focused on generating visible progress and strengthening the City’s capacity to support small-scale housing development.

By the end of Year One, the fellow will have helped establish more transparent internal processes, stronger partnerships with builders and lenders, and early evidence of increased program uptake, as reflected in permits issued, projects initiated, and reduced time to permit. The fellow and City leadership will collaborate to define more specific goals, success measures, and scope for the second year of the fellowship, informed by lessons learned and emerging opportunities.

The second year will then focus on deepening implementation, scaling effective strategies, and embedding sustainable systems and practices within City operations. By the end of Year Two, the north star of this fellowship is for Rogers to operate with a fully embedded, sustainable Pattern Zones program that consistently produces attainable housing, broadens participation in local development, and strengthens neighborhood stability and economic resilience over the long term.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

By Fall 2027, at the end of Year One, the fellow is expected to have:

• Established an Operational Pattern Zones Implementation Framework – Worked with Community Development, Community Risk Reduction, utilities and communications staff to align internal workflows, clarify program intake and review processes, and ensure the Pattern Zones program operates as a predictable, implementation-ready pathway for small-scale housing development.
• Built a Local Builder and Financing Partner Network – Engaged and onboarded local builders, contractors, and lenders to create a clear participation pipeline, lowering barriers for small-scale and first-time participants to use Pattern Zone designs.
• Identified Viable Parcels and Launched an Early Project Pipeline – Produced, with Gridics and City GIS staff, a mapped inventory of parcels suitable for Pattern Zone development and supported early projects advancing through permitting or construction to demonstrate real-world program activation.
• Implemented Program Performance Tracking and Feedback Systems – Developed and piloted mechanisms to track permits issued, time to permit, project status, and participant experiences, generating actionable insights to inform ongoing program refinement.
• Produced a Year One Program Assessment and Scale Plan – Synthesized lessons learned and early outcomes into a set of recommendations to guide Year Two priorities, including strategies to expand participation, improve efficiency, and increase housing production.

By Fall 2028, at the end of Year Two, the fellow is expected to have supported the following high-level outcomes:

• Institutionalized a Fully Operational Pattern Zones Program – Embedded durable workflows, partnerships, and performance measures within City operations to support ongoing delivery of attainable housing through small-scale development.
• Advanced Sustained Housing Production and a Replicable Model – Established a consistent track record of housing delivery through the Pattern Zones program and documented a scalable model that Rogers can continue to apply and adapt beyond the fellowship. Make recommendations regarding the portfolio Rogers offers within the Pattern Zones program.

KEY STAKEHOLDERS

• Executive Sponsor – Greg Hines, Mayor, City of Rogers
• Project Supervisor – John McCurdy, Director of Community Development, City of Rogers

QUALIFICATIONS

• Synthesizes complex information into clear and concise recommendations and action-oriented implementation plans.
• Develops and effectively implements both strategic and operational project management plans.
• Generates innovative, data-driven, and result-oriented solutions to complex challenges.
• Respond quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, trends, strategies, and other processes.
• Communicates effectively verbally and in writing and excels in active listening and conversing.
• Fosters collaboration across multiple constituencies to support more effective decision-making.
• Establishes and maintains strong relationships with diverse stakeholders, both inside and outside of government, particularly community-based relationships.
• Embraces differing viewpoints and implements strategies to find common ground. Demonstrates confidence and professional diplomacy while effectively interacting with individuals at all levels of various organizations.

FUSE is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage candidates from all backgrounds to apply for this position.