After a year of research, community engagement, and analysis, the City of Asheville has published the 2024 Affordable Housing Plan.

In September 2023, the city began development of an Affordable Housing Plan update. The original plan had been established in 2008 and updated in 2015, but with a growing population and evolving needs, the area needed new strategies.

This 113-page plan will guide the city's affordable housing goals and priority areas for the next decade — so make yourself at home while we dive in.

Foundational findings

After an examination of population demographics, housing development, and factors impacting Asheville's future, recommendations were guided by a number of key findings, including:

Limited homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income households
Residents' fears and experiences of displacement
Rising property taxes in the face of rising property values
A housing stock that doesn't meet residents' needs for affordability, size, type, or accessibility
A rapidly growing population, many of whose wages don't match area housing costs

Priority plans

To address these and the additional assessed needs, the plan presents recommendations that fall under five broad goals:

Promote policies and resources that help residents stay and thrive (e.g. expanding tenant protections and homeownership readiness initiatives).
Preserve existing affordable housing and improve housing quality (e.g. acquiring affordable housing at risk of affordability loss).
Increase housing supply that meets the needs of current and future residents (e.g. reducing regulatory barriers).
Align place-based policies and programs with related city initiatives (e.g. incentivizing transit-oriented development).
Broaden and strengthen the affordable housing ecosystem and tools (e.g. increasing nonprofit service providers' capacity).

The city and its strategic partners will begin working on top priorities this fall, including increasing the regulatory incentives for affordable housing, educating the community on resources and rights, and supporting the construction of rental and for-sale housing.

Psst... that's only the beginning. Home in on the details in the full document, or explore the plan presentation.