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• Buncombe County’s housing investments need an anti-displacement strategy (new)

• Asheville should support both affordable housing construction and home repair (new)

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• Asheville should shift public safety funding toward prevention and community stability instead of continued expansion of expensive reactive policing systems (Unresolved)

This week, leaders in both Buncombe County and Asheville are making decisions that will shape the future of housing and displacement in our community.

New Issue: Buncombe County’s housing investments need an anti-displacement strategy

On Tuesday, the Buncombe County Commission will consider a proposed $40 million housing bond and adopt its FY27 budget. Both actions reflect growing recognition that housing affordability is one of the most urgent challenges facing our region. At the same time, the County continues to make major housing and spending decisions without a comprehensive anti-displacement strategy to guide those investments.

New Issue: Asheville should support both affordable housing construction and home repair

On Wednesday, Asheville’s Housing Recovery Board will consider a proposal to shift disaster recovery funds away from affordable rental housing construction and toward single-family home repair and reconstruction. This is a preliminary step before City Council will hear the issue on June 23rd. We believe Asheville should support homeowners recovering from Hurricane Helene while also preserving its commitment to deeply affordable housing. The choice should not be between helping homeowners rebuild and creating homes for families who cannot currently afford to live here. The good news is that there are smart ways to do both.

Report Back: Asheville should shift public safety funding toward prevention and community stability instead of expanding expensive reactive policing systems

Last week, we advocated for Asheville to reconsider its budget priorities – instead of adding more officers and continuing to invest in surveillance, we suggested serious investment in Community Violence Intervention techniques that have a powerful track record of being more cost effective and getting better results.

There was no discussion of this proposal at the meeting, nor any substantive response from most of City Council — Council Members Hess and Roney did respond to GAP Supporter emails indicating agreement with our position. City Council will vote on the budget at their next meeting on June 9th, so this is still an active call to action. See our template below.

Here are all active email templates and action steps:

• Sign up to join us next Tuesday, June 2, at 5 pm to make a public comment and/or send an email to the  the Buncombe County Commission urging the County to develop an overarching anti-displacement strategy.
• Email the Asheville Housing Recovery Board and City Council to encourage them to consider a strategy to fund both multifamily affordable housing construction and single-family home repairs.
• Email the Asheville City Council about revising their budget to emphasize violence prevention.

Resources: 

• Click here to read our special report: Preventing Violence Before it Happens: Why Asheville Should Rebalance Public Safety Priorities in FY2027
• Click here to read our full proposed anti-displacement policy proposal