The City of Asheville and Land of the Sky Association of REALTORS® announce the 2015 Asheville Housing Fair to take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. September 19 at the Stephens Lee Center, 30 George Washington Carver Ave. The event is free and open to the public and will guide consumers and homeowners through [...]
Thank you to everyone who came out to the City Council meeting Tuesday. Staff had to open two overflow rooms to accommodate all the people who came down to City Hall to voice their input about proposed amendments to homestay regulations and fine increases for illegal short-term vacation rentals. Some 62 people signed up for the [...]
You might call them backyard cottages. The official name is “accessory dwelling units: ADUs.” They are nothing new; you will find existing units dotted around town, sometimes as garage apartments. But ADUs are not as prevalent as you might expect in a city facing a housing shortfall. A few years ago the city’s Affordable Housing Advisory [...]
In a guest column in the Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville City Councilman Gordon Smith writes about how the City is working to address affordable housing: The lack of affordable housing in Asheville is truly a community crisis. While Asheville City Council is taking unprecedented steps to address it, we need more community partners to help provide affordable [...]
There’s a nationwide conversation brewing around something called accessory apartments. In the past few years, communities have examined these use by right additions to single-family residences, and are praising them for their contribution to affordable housing. Right here in Asheville, that conversation took place as early as 1948. “Garage” apartments are featured in the City’s first zoning [...]
The saying goes that, given a big enough lever (and fulcrum to put it on), you can move the world. That’s a tall order, but it is true that leverage applied at the right place can make a big impact, and leveraging funding is helping make big changes in quality of life and economic development [...]
The Neighborhood Advisory Committee (NAC) will hold the second annual Festival of Neighborhoods on Sunday, March 15, 2015 at A-B Tech in the Ferguson Auditorium at 2:00 p.m. Asheville City Council established NAC to help strengthen the bonds of community and improve the quality of life for residents. This year’s festival will feature workshops focused on [...]
This video outlining the City of Asheville’s accomplishments in 2014 was shown to Asheville City Council at Council’s January 30 retreat.
What are Asheville’s housing challenges? How will a changing population affect Asheville’s housing stock? And what needs must be met to ensure affordable housing is available in the future? Addressing Asheville’s housing conversation requires answers to those and other questions, which is why, every five years, the City of Asheville commissions a Housing Needs Assessment for [...]
The Asheville Regional Housing Consortium, through the City of Asheville Community and Economic Development Department is now preparing the 2015-2020 Consolidated Strategic Housing and Community Development Plan. This Plan will guide the distribution of federal HOME funds for affordable housing in Buncombe, Madison, Henderson and Transylvania Counties. These funds are available to non-profit agencies and [...]
The City of Asheville’s Community and Economic Development Department invites the public to attend upcoming public forums to assist in the creation of the Five-Year Consolidated Plan. The Plan sets out a framework for using federal HOME funds in Buncombe, Henderson, Madison, and Transylvania counties, and Community Development Block grant (CDBG) funds in the city [...]
It’s here! ART buses now operate seven days a week. See below for the full announcement: ASHEVILLE – In a move to increase accessibility to public transportation and support the City of Asheville’s multimodal transportation goals, the ART, Asheville’s transit service, launched Sunday bus service on January 4, 2015. The expansion is the largest since the City [...]