City Council approves new housing mix at former Ramada Inn

Asheville City Council voted 4-3 at its Sept. 24 meeting to allow a private company to offer 50 units of supportive housing for veterans and 50 units that are affordable for those making half or less of area median income at the former Ramada Inn. Council members Antanette Mosely, Kim Roney and Sheneika Smith voted against the measure.

A previous deed restriction allowed for 100 units of supportive housing for those who are disabled or chronically homeless. The city had pledged $1.5 million toward the supportive services, a third of which came from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and must be spent on homeless initiatives. That plan fell apart when the former project management company, private developer Shangri-La Industries, defaulted on its mortgage and filed for bankruptcy.

Now that the new plan doesn’t require the city’s help with supportive services — the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will provide them — the city will spend $278,000 in ARPA funds on Code Purple shelters and $222,000 on other supportive housing programs.

At the former Ramada Inn site, the new developer, Friendship for Affordable Housing, which is buying the property at 148 River Ford Parkway, is adding 13 more units of affordable housing, but the criteria were not outlined. Occupancy is expected to begin at the end of 2025.

“I’m more inclined to support the original proposal or a new proposal … that has services for everybody, not just supporting half the residents,” said Council member Kim Roney, explaining her “no” vote.

“I hear the disappointment about .. releasing the permanent supportive housing piece of this for the 50 units and leaving only 50 veteran units being permanent supportive housing,” Mayor Esther Manheimer said. “I’m very concerned about that.”

Afterward, the Council heard what Manheimer called “an interesting mix of opinions” from the public.

“I’m asking you from the deepest part of my heart, vote no,” said Chlo Kramer, who identified as homeless. “This is not a solution to homelessness.”

“Do not modify the deed restriction. It was created for the protection of our most vulnerable,” said Asheville resident Kelly Redfern.

Doug Horne, president of Horne Properties and owner of River Ridge Marketplace, opposed any housing for the homeless at that location. “The problem with this [facility] is it’s just the wrong location,” said Horne. “Remove the deed restriction and let the private sector decide what to do with this particular property.”

Council member Maggie Ullman pointed to the project’s positives. “This is really good news. We have 50 more [supportive housing units] than the zero we lose. Fifty is such a big jump from zero.”

Bringing housing strategies under one roof

In a work session before the Council’s regular meeting, Stephanie Monson Dahl, city planning and urban design director, and Nikki Reid, community and economic development director, laid out a 12- to 18-month plan for coordinating programs related to equitable, affordable housing.

“We’re getting together both the implementation of the affordable housing plan … and also the implementation of our updates to the UDO to support housing,” Monson Dahl said. “We’re doing that through an equity lens and looking at anti-displacement strategies to knit everything together.”

Anti-displacement strategies are intended to keep people from being priced out of their homes. Strategies include expanding tenant protections, increasing down payment aid, implementing mortgage subsidies and home repair assistance programs, and requiring more landlords to accept housing vouchers.

Drawing from the Affordable Housing Plan, the Missing Middle Report, and the city’s Comprehensive Plan, the presentation outlined plans to develop an affordable housing centralized rental registry and application portal, increase funding for tax relief for low-income families and require all developments that receive city funding to accept rental assistance.

Reid introduced the concept of tiered overlay zoning with different housing patterns based on factors like transit access and development patterns.

However, the difficulty of applying those strategies emerged during the City Council’s regular meeting. The Council voted 4-3 to rezone 107 Glendale Ave. in the Oakley area from Single-Family High Density (RS-8), which includes single-family homes, town houses and cottages, to Residential Multi-Family High Density (RM-16), which allows duplexes and multifamily residential homes in addition to single-family homes, town houses and cottages. Council members Mosely, Roney and Smith voted against it.

The rezoning does not affect an existing single-family home on the property, but it will allow infill on the parcel, which is slightly less than an acre.

“I don’t find an increase in density to be reasonable in this particular area, given its proximity to what our Missing Middle study shows to be a neighborhood particularly vulnerable to displacement,”  Mosely said.

“I believe rezoning near vulnerable areas prior to any implementation of our anti-displacement strategies runs counter to the equitable and affordable housing strategies laid out in yesterday’s work session,” wrote Mosely to Xpress.

In an email, Ullman countered:

“We need to create anti-displacement strategies, create attainable housing and shepherd new growth wisely. And there are a myriad of projects already in the pipeline. When I review current projects, I work to fairly assess them based on the current rules until we have the new ones in place,” she wrote.

“The property abuts other RM16 properties and shares a street with an animal shelter, a thrift store, regeneration station and other commercial activity. Target sits above it, and about a dozen homes are nearby,” wrote Council member Sage Turner in an email to Xpress explaining her “yes” vote. “It’s a unique mixup of activities and adding additional housing makes sense there.”

In other news

• The Council approved a staff recommendation to rename the community responder program to AFD-REST (Asheville Fire Department Resource and Engagement Support Team). The program was rebranded to better define the team and alleviate confusion with community paramedics, said Beth Bechel, business manager for the Asheville Fire Department. The new team consists of five firefighters and three civilians — one supervisor and two peer-support specialists — who will proactively engage with those in crisis, support calls for service when available and respond to reports of encampments. “I want to elevate my deep appreciation for community responders being now the primary resource for our unhoused neighbors and encampments,” Roney said.