Backyard homes: Push for small accessory dwelling units could create more affordable housing in Raleigh

The city's official term is "accessory dwelling units." Some refer to these smaller additions as granny flats or backyard cottages.

Right now, for a property owner to add an accessory dwelling unit, it takes months or longer to work through the permit process, but that's about to change. The City of Raleigh is working to fast-track construction of these small homes.

WRAL's Matt Talhelm took a tour of one of the ADUs in the South Park Neighborhood, where Reggie Tardy built a small 'second home' in his backyard.

"It has the makings of a small apartment," says Tardy. "This is kind of like my hangout, TV, chill, lounge space."

Tardy says as soon as Raleigh was open to the concept of ADUs, he decided to go for it. He hired an architect to design the 600-square-foot unit in the South Park neighborhood. It took between 4 and 6 months to build.

"This was done from scratch, so the process of coming up with this concept was a little lengthier," he says.

He was among the first homeowners to apply for a permit after city council allowed ADUs in July of 2020. Since then, the city's received 47 permit applications.

"Just in the last couple months, we’ve seen permit numbers coming in at about twice the rate they had been in the previous 14 months," says Charles Dillard, an urban designer for the City of Raleigh.

Hoping to fast-track ADUs, the city has put out an open call to designers and architects to draw up plans the city can pre-approve and post online for property owners to select and build.

"We think this program is really going to save anywhere from 6 months to a year in terms of permitting time – and potentially thousands of dollars to the homeowner," says Dillard.

The ADU fast-track should be up and running by June or July.

The city is also working to create a loan program to help build and rent backyard cottages for homeowners at risk of being displaced.