Summary (Updated 2/10/25): GAPavl is attempting to connect directly with folks inside County government, since they have so far resisted our public requests for more information. We’ll update you as soon as we have new information.

The City of Asheville is giving $624,000 to Buncombe County for rental assistance, which is great, but we are concerned that the County won’t track whether these funds are distributed in a racially equitable manner.

The Facts (Updated): The Buncombe County Commision voted on January 21st to accept and manage the funds sent over by the City of Asheville for housing assistance.

The Asheville City Council voted to allocate $624,000 from the Community Development Block Grant-Declared Disaster Recovery Fund grant for rental assistance to City of Asheville residents via the County’s Helene Recovery Housing Assistance Grant Program.

Documents: County Staff Presentation

Our Assessment: Our region desperately needs significant rental assistance, so we applaud this move. However, we don’t know what kind of data Buncombe County is tracking for these rental assistance funds, and specifically whether they will collect data on the racial demographics of recipients. We have consistently raised this concern about Buncombe County, a concern that was also prominent in the Cease The Harm audit. 

We have this concern for three reasons:

• The County has longstanding and persistent racial inequities in criminal justice, economic development, education, health, and housing. There is the very real danger that these disparities will only increase in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
• The County does not track racial demographic data consistently across all of its departments, programs, and funded projects. This makes it extremely challenging to track progress toward racial equity, or to identify when the County may be widening disparities instead.
• The County has not committed to addressing these inconsistencies, or made any public statement about whether it plans to make this shift. Despite repeated attempts to engage the County on this issue (which you can read about here), they have not responded and we simply don’t know if they plan to give this issue priority.

Things to do: We invite you to email the Buncombe County Commission and staff leadership and ask them if racial demographic data is being tracked for their rental assistance program. You can use our template to address this issue.

Email Template: You can send an email to Buncombe County leaders by filling out the form below. Our email tool will send an individually addressed email to the recipients, and enable us to track how many emails were sent overall in the campaign. If you prefer to write your own email, you can copy and paste (and adapt) our template text – we ask that you send us a copy (cc: or bcc:, your choice) at info@gapavl.org so we can better track how many emails were sent.

To: alfred.whitesides@buncombecounty.org, amanda.edwards@buncombecounty.org, drew.ball@buncombecounty.org, jennifer.horton@buncombecounty.org, martin.moore@buncombecounty.org, parker.sloan@buncombecounty.org, terri.wells@buncombecounty.org, avril.pinder@buncombecounty.org, Noreal.Armstrong@buncombecounty.org

CC: or BCC: info@gapavl.org

Subject: Will household assistance program have a racial equity lens?

Dear Buncombe County leaders,

I appreciate your efforts to support those in need through your Helene Relief Household Assistance Programs. I have one concern: are you tracking racial demographic data for this program? The County’s inconsistency in racial data collection was one of the primary issues raised in last year’s Cease The Harm audit, and the County has not yet shared a plan for addressing this issue. In overseeing the vitally important household assistance program, are you collecting and analyzing racial demographic data so that the program’s impact on longstanding racial disparities can be assessed? Thank you for your leadership.

Sincerely,

(Your Name)

(Your City)

Report Back

The Asheville City Council approved the funding transfer unanimously. The Buncombe County Commission approved the reception of those funds unanimously.

Total GAP Supporter Actions Taken: 13

Recipients and Responses:

Buncombe County Commission

• County Commission Chair Amanda Edwards: No response
• County Commissioner Al Whitesides: No response
• County Commissioner Drew Ball: No response
• County Commissioner Jennifer Horton: No response
• County Commissioner Martin Moore: No response
• County Commissioner Parker Sloane: No response
• County Commissioner Terri Wells: No response

Asheville City Council

• Mayor Esther Manheimer: No response
• Vice Mayor Antanette Mosley: No response
• City Council Member Bo Hess: No response
• City Council Member Kim Roney: No response
• City Council Member Maggie Ullman: No response
• City Council Member Sage Turner: No response
• City Council Member Sheneika Smith: No response