Asheville outlines updated housing recovery plan, reboots regulatory work after Helene

Asheville City Council heard an update on the city’s affordable housing recovery strategy and a refreshed six‑month implementation timetable during the manager’s report, with staff emphasizing rental assistance, home‑repair programs and a return to regulatory changes paused after Hurricane Helene.

The manager, Deborah Campbell, and city staff said the recovery effort has reprioritized rental assistance and home‑repair work begun immediately after the storm while other elements of the affordable housing work plan have been rescheduled. Nikki Reed, director of Community and Economic Development, told council staff shifted the housing trust fund to a rolling application cycle to accelerate closings for ready projects and prioritized loans that meet key agency deadlines.

The update laid out how staff will use FEMA, SBA and HUD data to target assistance. Reed cited a FEMA data extract (Jan. 24) showing about 2,350 self‑reported applicants claiming storm damage inside Asheville city limits; of those, 1,402 properties had FEMA‑verified losses, 1,240 of which reported homeowners insurance and 155 of which did not. Staff said they will cross‑reference that data with SBA loan records, HUD’s Housing Impact Assessment when available, and the city’s permitting and damage assessment records to inform program targeting.

Reed said the housing trust fund is a current bright spot: 118 housing‑trust‑fund‑supported units are under construction; staff said one loan closed in October for down‑payment assistance and projected five additional loan closings in the next three months that could put roughly 365 more affordable units under construction. Those counts do not include about 79 units under construction with land‑use incentive grants, staff said.

Staff outlined timing tied to federal disaster recovery and local processes: council will receive a deeper briefing on the CDBG‑DR (referred to in staff materials as “CDBG Doctor”) process on Feb. 6; staff expects public engagement on recovery and the draft action plan in February–March with a March 4 target to publish an initial draft, and April submissions tied to the HUD action plan and regular CDBG cycle. Reed said the city’s CDBG‑DR work will feed into requests for housing trust fund allocations timed to meet Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit deadlines in the spring.

On the regulatory side, Steph Monsendahl, Planning and Urban Design Director, described a two‑track approach: (1) near‑term batch 1 Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) amendments that staff argues are consensus and largely technical (for example, removing certain residential parking minimums in transit‑supported corridors, adjusting development‑review thresholds and refining zoning district incentives), and (2) a housing enabling overlay intended to allow “missing middle” housing in walkable, transit‑served corridors while leaving more change‑sensitive legacy neighborhoods out of the overlay. Monsendahl said staff has scheduled two community meetings (Jan. 30 in person and Jan. 31 virtual) and will publish materials on the city’s “Asheville text amendments” webpage for public comment.

Councilmembers debated design details. Some members urged adding a community benefits table to any overlay so denser projects provide verifiable public benefits (renewable energy, tree canopy, minority‑owned business contracting, depth/length of affordability). Others said a benefits table could disincentivize smaller missing‑middle projects (duplexes/triplexes) and that the primary incentive should be simpler by‑right zoning in targeted corridors. Staff said batch 1 UDO items are limited to non‑residential corridors and targeted growth nodes (examples given by staff: Patton Avenue to Smoky Park Highway, Tunnel Road, Merrimon Avenue, Hendersonville Road) and that RS‑zone residential neighborhoods are not part of these first amendments.

Staff also said some policy items remain on pause pending budget clarity, specifically a homeowner tax‑relief program for low‑income residents and revisions to the land‑use incentive grant program that rely on general‑fund allocations. Campbell said staff will check back with the finance director, Tony McDowell, on the status of any paused application cycles that had deadlines.

Reed and Monsendahl said staff will provide monthly progress reports on the city website about rental assistance and home‑repair programs, continue targeted outreach to developers for the housing trust fund and return to council with (a) a Feb. 6 CDBG‑DR briefing, (b) a Feb. 11 presentation on the batch‑1 UDO amendments, (c) a March update on the centralized rental registry and publication of a draft overlay in early March, and (d) a May Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on the overlay before council consideration.

Councilors and staff emphasized the work is iterative and timeline‑sensitive because of federal recovery deadlines and Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit schedules. Staff asked council to communicate early preferences on the public benefits approach so outreach and draft documents can reflect council priorities.

The manager and staff said they will continue to coordinate with Buncombe County and other regional partners on recovery and to monitor federal guidance that could affect voucher programs or other funding streams.

Looking ahead, staff said they will return with specific funding allocation requests from the housing bond and with project‑level loan closings as applications and underwriting complete. Monthly web reports and scheduled briefings will track program intake, disbursements and construction milestones.