How Multifamily Housing Gets Approved in Raleigh

Raleigh regulates multifamily development through its Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), amended since 2021 to allow more housing types without a rezoning and to bonus height along bus rapid transit corridors through the Transit Overlay District. North Carolina's Regulatory Reform Act of 2026 adds a state law layer for a qualifying city, including a limited use by right for multifamily on commercial land under redevelopment.

Missing Middle text changes

• TC-5-20 (2021): density is no longer regulated by units per acre outside the R-1 district; lot size, yard and height standards set what can be built. A two-family dwelling is permitted in every district except R-1 under the same standards as a single detached dwelling. Townhouses, once limited to R-10, are permitted in R-6 and, where a development includes open space, in R-2 and R-4.
• TC-20-21, adopted 10 May 2022 and effective 8 August 2022: smaller units on smaller lots and more density near high-frequency transit.

The Transit Overlay District

TC-17A-20, adopted 5 October 2021, created the Transit Overlay District (-TOD) and Transit Overlay District Residential (-TOD-R), Article 5.5 of the UDO, applied to a property by its own rezoning along a Bus Rapid Transit corridor such as New Bern Avenue, Western Boulevard or South Wilmington Street. The -TOD allows a building up to 50 percent taller than the base zoning where at least 20 percent of units are affordable at 60 percent of area median income for 30 years or more, or up to 30 percent taller for an employment-only building; the -TOD-R instead controls building size through a floor area ratio.

The rezoning steps

A pre-application conference and neighborhood meeting precede filing, with a second neighborhood meeting on a site of 5 acres or more or a request above five stories. Staff review takes 10 to 24 business days, the Planning Commission recommends within 45 days of a complete application, and the City Council holds a public hearing and decides within 60 days of that recommendation.

North Carolina's 2026 Regulatory Reform Act

Session Law 2026-59 (Senate Bill 445), signed 11 August 2026, reaches Raleigh through two sections. Section 43 (G.S. 160D-703.1) applies in a city of 80,000 or more population in a county of 1,000,000 or more, a threshold Raleigh meets through Wake County: zoning must allow, as a use by right on property undergoing redevelopment in every area zoned nonagricultural commercial, business or light industrial, a multifamily structure of more than four units and the residential component of a mixed residential and nonresidential structure, except on land adjacent to unremediated contamination, and the zoning cannot set a maximum height below 60 feet; effective 11 August 2026. Section 44 (G.S. 160D-917) adds an accessory dwelling unit mandate for a city of 50,000 or more population outside the coastal area, effective 15 January 2027, with local implementing regulations due by 1 July 2027.

Questions

Does North Carolina's 2026 law let a developer skip rezoning for multifamily in Raleigh?

On property under redevelopment in a commercial, business or light industrial zone, G.S. 160D-703.1 requires zoning to allow a multifamily structure of more than four units as a use by right; it does not reach land that has never been developed.

When does the Transit Overlay District's height bonus apply?

Only where a property is rezoned to add the -TOD or -TOD-R overlay along a Bus Rapid Transit corridor, and the bonus requires at least 20 percent of units affordable at 60 percent of area median income for 30 years or more (TC-17A-20).

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