The biggest move came in 2004, when Romney signed legislation, dubbed Chapter 40R, providing funds to towns and cities that agreed to allow more high-density, multi-family housing.
But multi-family is only a sliver of the action in the Carolina metros of Raleigh, Charleston SC and Columbia SC, where almost all new construction is single-family homes, unlike in higher-density cities with bigger shares of renters.
These areas are marked by everything that density advocates detest: They have very low levels of transit ridership and are largely dominated by single-family homes.