Quality Affordable Housing

A Council Vision Focus Area
Asheville is a city with abundant housing choices for people at all economic levels and stages of life. Chronic homelessness is a thing of the past and rapid rehousing strategies abound thanks to an effective network of service providers. Housing is affordable not only because of reasonable prices but also because of low energy and transportation costs. Innovative and historic housing options, from tiny homes and co-housing to apartments and single-family homes, are available throughout the city. Asheville’s former public housing communities have been transformed into a diverse mix of affordable and market rate homes within vibrant neighborhoods.

Note: Asheville operates on a fiscal year (FY) basis that runs from July 1 through June 30, with the fiscal year designated by the year in which it ends. For example, FY25 begins on July 1, 2024 and ends on June 30, 2025.

Work Supporting Quality Affordable Housing

FY25

(July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2025)
  • American Rescue Plan Act Grants Management In Progress(Began in FY23, due to complete in FY26) Manage $26.3M in internal and community grants to significantly impact affordable housing, homelessness, neighborhood resilience, and other Council priorities while creating a more collaborative grantmaking model for increased impact and transparency.

FY24

(July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2024)
  • Affordable Housing Plan (In Progress)(Began in FY23, due to complete in FY24) Develop a new affordable housing plan to guide City policies and investments in order to comprehensively address the City’s long-term affordable housing needs.
  • Missing Middle Housing Study (Complete)(Began in FY23, Completed in FY24) Identify regulatory and policy barriers to building missing middle housing, such as townhomes, accessory dwelling units and multiplexes, and recommend steps to overcome them.
  • Permanent Supportive Housing at Ramada Inn (In Progress)(Began in FY23, due to complete in FY24) Support the creation of 113 new units of permanent housing by funding on-site wrap-around services to address the needs of homeless individuals and veterans at the former Ramada Inn.
  • American Rescue Plan Act Grants Management In Progress(Began in FY23, due to complete in FY26) Manage $26.3M in internal and community grants to significantly impact affordable housing, homelessness, neighborhood resilience, and other Council priorities while creating a more collaborative grantmaking model for increased impact and transparency.
  • Implement Homelessness Recommendations In Progress(Began in FY24, due to complete in FY24) Implement the recommendations of the 2023 National Alliance to End Homelessness needs assessment.

FY23

(July 1, 2022 - June 30, 2023)
  • Affordable Housing Plan (In Progress)(Began in FY23, due to complete in FY24) Develop a new affordable housing plan to guide City policies and investments in order to comprehensively address the City’s long-term affordable housing needs.
  • Missing Middle Housing Study (Complete)(Began in FY23, Completed in FY24) Identify regulatory and policy barriers to building missing middle housing, such as townhomes, accessory dwelling units and multiplexes, and recommend steps to overcome them.
  • Homelessness Needs Assessment and Strategy Recommendations Complete(Began in FY23, Completed in FY23) Engaged the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) to carry out a comprehensive assessment of needs related to unsheltered homelessness. Their report and recommendations were presented at a Asheville City Council/Buncombe County Board of Commissioners joint meeting in January 2023. The recommendations focused on improving governance and systems-level planning and coordination, developing service provider capacity to improve system performance, data collection, and housing development, and are currently being implemented with leadership from the Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee. Fiscal Year 2023 also represented the first full year of the new Homelessness Strategies Division. This four member team supports the work of the Homelessness Advisory Committee and associated work groups focused on implementing the recommendations from the National Alliance to End Homelessness. The team also works in the following ways to improve partnerships and enhance our community response to address homelessness: (1) Manages federal grants including the Emergency Solutions Grant and the Continuum of Care funding, (2) Provides training and technical assistance to service providers for community capacity building, (3) Improves data collection and use of the Homeless Management Information System, (4) Builds coalitions across the community to build partnerships Impact: Improved governance and coordination between government agencies and community partners to improve prospects for long-term reduction in homelessness.
  • Permanent Supportive Housing at Ramada Inn (In Progress)(Began in FY23, due to complete in FY24) Support the creation of 113 new units of permanent housing by funding on-site wrap-around services to address the needs of homeless individuals and veterans at the former Ramada Inn.
  • American Rescue Plan Act Grants Management In Progress(Began in FY23, due to complete in FY26) Manage $26.3M in internal and community grants to significantly impact affordable housing, homelessness, neighborhood resilience, and other Council priorities while creating a more collaborative grantmaking model for increased impact and transparency.

FY22

(July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2022)
  • ARPA Funding Allocation Complete(Began in FY22, Completed in FY22) Identified guiding principles for the use of $26 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, issued a request for proposals for community and City projects across nine categories and selected 19 external projects for funding, in addition to a number of internal uses addressing homelessness, community engagement, cleanliness, and transportation.

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