Council committee backs $10 million allocation to regional loan fund to leverage local bond dollars

The Housing and Community Development Committee unanimously voted Aug. 19 to recommend that City Council allocate $10 million of the November 2024 affordable-housing bond to the Western North Carolina Affordable Housing Loan Fund (WNC Fund) to support affordable rental housing inside Asheville city limits. Sasha Burtynsky, the city’s affordable housing officer, told the committee that voters had approved a $20 million affordable-housing bond last November and staff developed a strategy to deploy the funds alongside state and federal sources. “We have put together a strategy, looking at a number of sources,” Burtynsky said, and staff recommended dedicating $10 million to the WNC Fund for multifamily construction gap financing. Representatives of Self Help Ventures Fund, which administers the regional fund, described how the fund operates and why the city’s contribution would be leveraged. JJ Freilich, affordable-housing sector leader with Self Help Credit Union, said Dogwood Health Trust seeded the regional fund with $40 million and the loan fund has already closed one loan and has about $19 million in originations and $18 million in leads. Freilich said the fund provides bridge and subordinate gap loans to close financing shortfalls for multifamily deals. Tracy Thompson, Self Help’s program associate based in Asheville, summarized the local pipeline: as of the meeting the fund had seven Asheville-area projects in varying stages — five leads totaling 226 units and two originations totaling 92 units — with average loan requests of about $2.1 million and common uses including acquisition bridge loans and mezzanine gap financing. Burtynsky said the fund would restrict city-backed loan proceeds to projects located within the city limits. Committee members asked whether projects using WNC Fund capital could also seek other city funds; staff clarified that projects could continue to pursue state and federal gap sources (for example state HOME or CDBG Doctor funds) and, in some cases, city CDBG-DR funds, but bond funds routed through the loan fund were intended to be used in the city and administered by Self Help. Committee members discussed homeownership funding priorities and whether the bond allocation signaled a preference for rental over homeownership development. Public comment from Andy Barnett of Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity reiterated that monitoring and voucher access should remain a city priority even when funds are administered by a third party, and asked the committee to consider the balance between rental and homeownership investments. After discussion Councilmember made a motion to recommend city council allocate $10,000,000 to the WNC Affordable Housing Loan Fund and to authorize a loan agreement with Self Help Ventures Fund for loan administration, underwriting and servicing. The committee voted by roll call: Councilwoman Shanika Smith — aye; Councilwoman Sage Turner — aye; Chair Antoinette Moseley — aye. The committee’s recommendation will be forwarded to the full City Council for final action on Aug. 26. Committee members also asked staff to consider options for retaining grant-source flexibility for community land trust or homeownership projects (for example, making some bond-funded grants directly from bond proceeds as allowed) and to return with additional recommendations on how bond and HTF allocations could support permanent homeownership projects. The committee did not adopt further policy changes; staff will draft the ordinance and loan agreement language for council consideration and will continue stakeholder outreach about fund criteria.