City Council announces Helene recovery priorities for Fiscal Year 2026

Press release from City of Asheville: 

Asheville City Council members met February 13 and 14 at their annual retreat to discuss Helene recovery priorities for the next 18 months.

Throughout the 2 day retreat, Council members identified guiding principles and a vision specific to Helene Recovery.

Recovery Vision

  • Rooted in resilience

  • Rising in unity

  • Repairing with care

  • Ready for tomorrow

Agreed upon guiding principles will remain at the center of any actions City Council and staff take to achieve that vision.

Guiding Principles

  • Community centered

  • Accountability & Transparency

  • Maintaining Asheville’s uniqueness

  • InnovationStrength, resilience

  •  SustainabilityCollaboration

Council members established 4 priority areas, focused on Helene Recovery:

  • People

  • Housing

  • Infrastructure/Environment, and

  • Economy

These priority areas were informed in part by information from the community based Helene Recovery Priorities Survey data results and input from a workshop held for Board and Commission chairs on February 4.   Over 6800 community members participated and provided input on what matters most to them as Asheville continues to recover and rebuild in the aftermath of Helene. The results highlighted key areas of community concern including:

  • Strengthening infrastructure

  • Expanding housing solutions

  • Supporting economic recovery

  • Enhance food security

  • Maintain sustainability focus

Next Steps: 

Regarding Helene recovery priorities, the City Council discussed what success would look like both 12 months from now and three years from now in the following areas: People, Infrastructure/Environment, Housing and Economy.

Next, facilitators and City staff will summarize the notes from the discussions and identify draft priority actions. Those draft priority actions will be shared with the City Council at a future work session.

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