Raleigh's Missing-Middle Housing Experiment Faces a New Test

Five years after Raleigh began changing its zoning rules to allow more housing types in neighborhoods traditionally dominated by single-family homes, the city's missing-middle housing strategy is facing renewed scrutiny from developers, homeowners and housing advocates.

The debate has become particularly visible around Andor Place in Northeast Raleigh, where a planned missing-middle development has faced opposition from nearby residents. The project is part of a broader shift in Raleigh's housing market, where developers are increasingly looking to build townhomes, duplexes and other smaller-scale housing in established neighborhoods rather than relying exclusively on large apartment complexes or new subdivisions on the city's edges.

Raleigh adopted its first major missing-middle zoning changes in 2021, followed by additional changes in 2022. The reforms expanded where duplexes, townhouses, small apartment buildings, tiny homes and accessory dwelling units could be built. The city says the goal is to create more housing choices, particularly as Raleigh's population grows and housing costs remain elevated.

The approach has produced a measurable increase in housing development. According to Raleigh's latest missing-middle data, projects enabled by the zoning changes accounted for 4,936 housing units from July 2021 through July 2026. Of those, 3,180 units had been approved, while 966 had been constructed. Townhouses represented the largest share of completed and approved development, followed by apartment and mixed-use buildings.

But the increase in housing supply has not eliminated the affordability debate. A recent Triangle Business Journal report found that the city's missing-middle rules have continued to create tensions between developers and neighboring homeowners, while some projects have encountered rising construction costs and other challenges. The Northeast Raleigh development also illustrates how the economics of these projects can change: a property originally planned for for-sale townhomes has now shifted toward rental duplexes following the collapse of an earlier homebuilder agreement.

That shift is important because allowing more housing does not necessarily mean the resulting homes will be affordable to lower-income households. Raleigh itself acknowledges that zoning reform is only one part of the affordability equation. The city points to high land costs, interest rates and construction expenses as additional factors influencing housing prices.

For homeowners, the issue is more complicated. Missing-middle development can introduce duplexes, townhouses and small multifamily buildings into areas where residents have historically expected detached homes. That can change neighborhood density, traffic, construction activity and the overall appearance of a street. At the same time, limiting new housing in established areas can make it harder for a growing city to add homes where jobs, transportation and existing infrastructure are already available.

Raleigh's experience also shows that the housing debate is moving beyond a simple question of whether the city needs more homes. The bigger question is where those homes should be built, what they should look like and who can afford them. As the city continues to grow, those questions are likely to become increasingly important for developers and homeowners alike.

Bottom Line

Raleigh's missing-middle experiment has already produced thousands of approved and nearly 1,000 completed housing units, but the latest disputes show that increasing housing supply can come with significant neighborhood and development challenges. The next phase of Raleigh's housing debate will likely focus not just on allowing more homes, but on whether those homes can be built economically while addressing concerns from existing communities.