At its May 17 meeting, Asheville City Council decided to hold off on making changes to the city’s homestay short-term rental program that could affect those who rent homes and apartments in the city. Now the city is reaching out to ask renters to apply to serve on a task force that will make recommendations to City Council.
The deadline for applying to sit on the task force has been extended until Thursday, June 23, at 5 p.m. So far, only one renter has applied.
Those interested in being considered should contact City Clerk Maggie Burleson at 828-259-5601 or mburleson@ashevillenc.gov for an application.
A homestay is a type of short-term rental in which a homeowner or long-term resident rents no more than two bedrooms in their primary residence to guests for periods of fewer than 30 days.
Renting out a whole house or a separate living unit on a short-term basis is not permitted in the city. Violators face fines of up to $500 per day.
The city relaxed its regulations for building new Accessory Dwelling Units last year. The units can include backyard cottages, garage apartments, basement apartments or in-law suites. At the time the relaxed rules were adopted, one of the main arguments in favor of the change was that it would help increase the city’s stock of affordable rental housing.
But when the city subsequently expanded its homestay rental program to give city residents an opportunity to participate in the short-term housing rental market on November 15 last year, pressure mounted to include accessory units in the new program.
Opponents of the change argue that allowing separate living units to be used as short-term rentals would reduce Asheville’s already-tight rental market, since short-term rentals can generate as much as four times the income as the same unit rented on a long-term basis. Neighborhood advocates also worry that expanding the homestay program would increase commercial activity within residential neighborhoods, leading to a decline in neighborhood character and quality of life.
Hi Asheville Renters,
First Asheville renters need to approach City of Asheville as a team. This ADU task force is one step in renter inclusion in the governing process. Half the Asheville population are renter families and renting individuals. If one imagines HUD clients as renters, this population is easily the least politically and economically powerful cohort… if we fail to work as a team.
City hall set limits on what the renter or hopefully multiple renters can introduce on the ADU Task Force. The other seats will be reserved for the Asheville Board of Realtors and parties almost surely having property owner members. Will half the ADU Task Force be renters?
Whoever the renters are they need to do an excellent job and keep their agenda and scope of analysis within parameters. After a few ADU Task Force meetings, I hope some of Asheville’s renters will look at this precedent for further action. Look me up on Facebook or otherwise and please contact me.
As a team renters make a large economic contribution in the total rent all of us pay each into the hands of property owners. We should have a seat at a table once that Total Economic Contribution of Asheville Renters figure is agreed upon by our renters and City of Asheville. This number should include all taxes paid, earnings, consumer purchase estimates, etc., above and beyond total rent paid.
I just went through a Buncombe courthouse legal matter as an Asheville renter and the judge was objectively unjust, or the NC statutes for the renter’s position is now totally unethical at least. There is a part of my case that I don’t dispute, but the judge was basically acting as the most savage, unethical prosecutor anyone could imagine. My opponent and this judge were totally wrong as to the basic process elements concerning the NC Courts paperwork that is nonetheless being used to harm me.
I told the judge I have a clear defective process claim for dismissing the opponent’s case and provided evidence of clearly defective paperwork on the part of my opponent. My opponent was unable to state clearly in court what the numbers in question were. When asked for a key document by the judge, my opponent had an incomplete version. A high profile Buncombe judge just said my case was routine. I know Pisgah Legal Services has a lot of workflow, and I thank PLS for what advice they shared. But they just said don’t bother mounting an appeal as to going back and getting the action dismissed.
I think a great attorney who knows NC renters are getting stabbed in the back in so many ways would tear this case up, for my sake, but also to raise the bar higher through outcome precedent. I would be happy to take this matter to jury trial and appellate level if necessary. I think the paperwork would be destroyed and that would reform NC and thus Buncombe jurisprudence for the sake of all renters.
If there is defective process and jurisprudence in small claims court, what does that spell out for the really big civilization questions? We know the answer. Any yet getting small gears like strengthening the renter position in law matters, even and especially small claims, is where the kind of justice revolution MLK from our past and now folks like Sen. Bernie Sanders call for.
The problem with PLS and other local nonprofits is they don’t get together and spell out all the interlocking, high value problems in the system affecting all decisions and outcomes, especially when it comes to revealing how truly weak our War on Poverty is. Yes, the GOP is the guilty party in almost every instance where real progress is needed. But the good guys have to pull together the big picture on what’s happening and what to do… even if it is just the accurate, ethical picture at first.
The judge actually said, “I am not here to talk about process.” That arrogant, wanton approach to legal process has to be smashed in North Carolina. I looked up who oversees magistrate conduct and there appears to ne nothing. The NC Courts Judicial Standards Commission, formed in 1973, was never designed to oversee magistrates? Maybe it is time to check on our magistrates and look into what kind of law they are working with?
This is truly not just about me, with GOP state control the NC Apartment Association has made all kinds of changes objectively harmful to renters. My experience has to have been repeated among other renters. It’s a pattern of wholesale injustice affecting North Carolina renters. By the way, I haven’t brought up rental housing quality issues in this message.
Renters United is one program under a larger nonprofit I am seeking support for:
Renters United
https://www.facebook.com/Renters-United-1035568699788057/
MX, feel free to delete these two comments. I don’t feel good about what I said yesterday on second thought.
Hi MX,
There is no good reason to leave any of my comments up here. I am no longer a willing participant in MX article comments.
You folks don’t have an edit or delete function and so when a comment needing revision or deletion is entered the only option seems to be to request MX admin deletion. If that fails, I guess I can leave this protest up and never use the MX comments in the future… along with everyone else who stopped too.
Grant, the relevant part of our Terms & Conditions is: “Xpress will not amend, alter or remove user comments at the request of a user.”
That bit of bureaucratic “relevant because we say so” response didn’t help anything, Virginia.
Being on track with an outmoded policy at MX needlessly turning long-time MX fans into madvocates doesn’t add anything if you are trying to be part of great community institution, Virginia.
I am just a powerless citizen in contrast to MX who asked for a just resolution. I made a basic, respectful, sensible need known to Jeff and he chose to disrespect that simple request to delete these comments. By having you share that messed up policy, it says the MX community are just market externalities with not power to influence co-creation outcomes, Virginia.
So pulling any future support directed to MX or sharing content at this point sounds great to me. Plenty of others are bought into the MX world. Let Tim Peck have at it.
Don’t make it worse by replying… please, Virginia. Every time I think of MX I will remember this, so I will think of MX less now.
Funny, I just shared something nice with Jeff recently. I also helped generate a very valuable but poorly supported story on the Chemtronics Superfund site. I was one of the only folks interested in seeing a story like Max did, and provided a lot of the basic research. Sadly few of our political leaders have much to say there, beyond what made it into the story.
It’s our local institutional leaders that drag things down much of the time and less whatever Trump and congress are doing in terms of how pretty small local interactions like this get handled. It adds up, and I know it’s not just me who get these senseless “because we say so” kicks in the head.
I added a comment I later regretted and asked to have it deleted, had done a fair amount of good for the MX mission over the years, and then figuratively—and in the sense my requested was skipped for no logical reason—literally slapped in the face and my standing as a long-time community member shoved aside, just for the sake of a ridiculously incongruent policy no one else in the media world uses.
It’s not the powerless Asheville people that make things just a bit worse with each of these extra little slap downs.
Edit and delete functions are basic to most modern news and other website with comment function. A lot of websites are dumping the comment function altogether.
MX needs to add edit and delete function, or honor MX community requests to delete the content provider’s text on demand. Or just stay away from the MX comments. I try to be careful with what I put down in writing, but this episode just makes me even less interested in interacting with MX at any level.
I got a response from MX about how vital it is to keep their comment section functionality is exactly as it has been for years. Why? The rationale I got is not realistic, proper, modern, or respectful of the MX community.