Raleigh considers boarding houses to alleviate housing crunch
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
Raleigh is on the verge of updating its rules around boarding houses and co-living spaces as part of the city council's wide-ranging efforts to increase its housing supply.
Why it matters: Raleigh has a shortage of housing to match its booming population, studies have found. The city has seen its housing prices increase rapidly in the past 10 years.
- To combat that shortage, the Raleigh City Council has reformed its zoning laws several times to encourage the construction of more housing and density.
The big picture: Boarding houses and co-living buildings, which allow residents to rent a room and share a bathroom and kitchen, used to be a popular living option in cities across the country at the turn of the 20th Century, according to Bloomberg's CityLab.
- Zoning changes, new building codes and concerns over the state of many of the buildings led to their slow disappearance as a living option.
- But in recent years, as housing prices have increased, the arrangements have seen a surge of interest, The New York Times reported.
Driving the news: Raleigh is considering a text change to its zoning laws that would allow co-living buildings and boarding houses to be built more easily in parts of the city — as well as within apartment or mixed-use buildings.
- The rules focus on areas already zoned mixed-use or industrial mixed-use in Raleigh, after the original text change was narrowed by the city council, Justin Rametta, planning and zoning administrator for Raleigh, told Axios.
- In residential areas, though, the rules remain restrictive. Co-housing can only be built in areas zoned R-10 (most inside the belt line residential areas), in buildings that were originally built as single-family and limited to six individuals.
- The minimum size of a one-person unit could be 250 square feet under the rule change or 500 square feet for two people.
- The city's planning commission has already unanimously recommended the change.
What they're saying: Members of the Raleigh City Council, including Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and Jonathan Melton, have already voiced support for the change due to its potential to promote cheaper rents.
What's next: The Raleigh City Council will decide on the text change after a public discussion on Nov. 19.