Summary: At this week’s Policy, Finance and Infrastructure meeting, the City will provide its most detailed public update yet on the Anti-Displacement and Affordable Housing Project, including progress on a displacement risk assessment tool, an anticipated anti-displacement resolution, housing policy reforms, and displacement mitigation strategies. We view these developments as encouraging while emphasizing the importance of implementation and accountability.

The Facts: Here are some of the elements in the presentation on this project:

• The project goal is to pair housing production with anti-displacement protections  
• An anti-displacement resolution is expected in July  
• A displacement risk tool is under development (GAPavl is a collaborator on this project)
• The Legacy Neighborhood Coalition are now recognized as “required stakeholders in Communication and Engagement Plans associated with land use policy actions, housing, and proximate capital projects”

You can see the full presentation here.

Our Assessment: Over the past six months, the Legacy Neighborhood Coalition (joined by GAPavl and other local organizations) has advanced the notion that Asheville needs a more systematic way to identify displacement risks, evaluate the impacts of major decisions, and connect those findings to meaningful mitigation measures.

This presentation confirms that the City is moving in that direction.

Particularly encouraging is the City’s commitment to developing a public displacement risk assessment tool and integrating anti-displacement considerations into broader housing policy discussions.

At the same time, important questions remain. How will risk be measured? Which projects will be evaluated? What mitigation strategies will be required? How will results be reported publicly? And how much influence will the tool ultimately have on City decisions?

Those questions will determine whether this effort becomes a meaningful accountability framework or simply another planning exercise.

Things to do: No action is needed at this time.

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Coming Soon!