Surrounded by mountains and crammed into a 45-square-mile valley, the city of Asheville is bursting at the seams, suffering from a severe housing shortage, skyrocketing rents and home prices, overcrowded streets with no place to park, and an abundance of lower-paying, tourism-based jobs.
“Pity the nomad who finds his complaints of current residency conditions fall upon unsympathetic ears.”
On the agenda for the May 26 Asheville City Council meeting: lots of public hearings on housing projects around town, including a mixed-use development project at 146 Roberts St.
Members of Code for Asheville, a local Code for America brigade, are taking steps to help alleviate one of the city’s biggest problems: the affordable housing crisis.
It’s not yet clear what action Asheville City Council members will take on short-term rentals, but Council is leaning toward stiffer fines, stricter enforcement and a continued ban in residential areas.
The growing problem of a lack of affordable housing in and around Asheville loom large over the city.
The Craggy Park subdivision will be located in two phases in the Falconhurst neighborhood in West Asheville, at 95 Craggy Ave. Council voted 6-1 to approve the conditional zoning, with Council member Cecil Bothwell returning the only no vote.
Vacancy rates for apartments in this area were recently surveyed by a consultant as being a percentage that is even less than the amount of butterfat content in reduced fat milk.
Police video and audio recording of events can be held a minimum of 30 days before being destroyed, Asheville City Council decided on Feb. 10. The new rule was one of many items on Council’s consent agenda, and it passed unanimously. So did two rezoning requests that add housing stock in the city. “Right now, there are no rules […]
The Asheville City Council has approved construction of 477 apartments in two developments — one in East Asheville, whose residents wore “Keep Oakley safe” stickers and urged denial of the project. Council members cited a demand for housing and a promise of $200,000 to improve sidewalks in the area.
On Jan. 27 Asheville City Council will consider several economic incentive deals, apartment development requests and a housing study that will help shape policies for years to come.
Patrick Bowen has evaluated housing issues in hundreds of cities across the country. But he’s never seen the mix of extremely low apartment availability and high population growth that confronts Asheville.
After lengthy public hearings, Asheville City Council members passed three controversial requests during a long Tuesday evening meeting Dec. 9. They approved apartment plans for Hazel Mill Road in West Asheville and on Thompson Street and Stoner Road near Biltmore Village but postponed a decision for a Fairview Road plan at the developer’s request. They also adopted changes […]
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, Asheville City Council will wrangle with an agenda that’s packed with controversial housing and development issues.
People in the Oakley community are raising concerns about a new 300-plus-unit apartment complex planned for the East Asheville neighborhood, expressing worries about everything from potential traffic and safety issues to the fact that only 10 of the development’s planned residential units — which are nearly all rental properties — are designated as affordable housing.
The billowing local debates over affordable housing and pedestrian safety are pivoting toward a long overlooked section of West Asheville. A proposal for a major new apartment complex at the corner of Hazel Mill Road and Clayton Avenue just north of Patton Avenue is steering the discussion.
Asheville City Council will hold a pair of public hearings on zoning requests Nov. 11. Potentially the most controversial is a conditional zoning request to allow a developer to build a new private street and subdivision at the corner of South Charlotte and Hazzard streets.
Ten years ago, the Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee, made up of eight city and eight county appointees from a variety of organizations, embarked on an ambitious plan to end chronic homelessness in Asheville. Now, almost precisely that amount of time later, it is coming to fruition, with a final project that cty of Asheville Homeless […]
Amid growing local interest in tiny homes, the Villagers shop in West Asheville will host a community discussion, film screening and small house display on Monday, Aug. 25.
The city of Asheville is soliciting applications to serve on a pair of its most powerful volunteer agencies.
On Wednesday, the board of the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville approved a plan to overhaul current management rules, Carolina Public Press reports.
