Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
City hears housing needs assessment: study finds large rental and for-sale gaps, steep rent increases and Helene damage factored into needs
Summary
A housing needs assessment presented Aug. 26 found roughly an 11,000‑unit five‑year housing gap across the HOME consortium area and identified sharp rent increases, low affordable vacancy rates and Hurricane Helene damage as drivers of near‑term need.
A multi-county housing needs assessment presented to the Asheville City Council on Aug. 26 concluded the city and its HOME consortium face a substantial shortfall of housing across income bands and housing types, with a large shortage of rental product affordable to lower-income households and rapidly rising rents since 2019.
Patrick Bowen of Bowen National Research presented the consolidated plan’s required housing needs chapter, prepared for the four-county HOME consortium (Madison, Buncombe, Henderson and Transylvania counties). Bowen said Asheville continues to experience affordability pressures, with median home prices and rents climbing even as other parts of the country have leveled off. He reported the study’s headline figure — a five‑year housing gap estimate of roughly 11,000 units across the study area — and advised council that gap can be addressed…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
