I am overjoyed that our City Council is working to address the need for affordable housing in Asheville. Both as a professional working in public health and an Asheville City Schools Board of Education member, I know the web of challenges that children and adults face in Asheville. Affordable housing is one essential piece of the puzzle to ensure stable environments for families.
Housing affordability is defined as not paying more than 30 percent of your income on housing. Therefore, in addition to continuing partnerships with nonprofit and for-profit developers, our Council needs to focus on and support the living wage to ensure that fewer families are living on the margin of crisis. Last year, over 500 children were considered homeless in Buncombe County. That is enough to fill one large elementary school. We owe it to the children in our community to do all we can to help them succeed.
— Leah Ferguson
Asheville City Schools Board of Education
Asheville
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