Asheville Housing Authority outlines voucher counts, wait-list pressure and MTW changes amid HUD funding shifts

Ella Santos, the newly appointed president and CEO of the Asheville Housing Authority, updated Buncombe County’s Affordable Housing Subcommittee on the authority’s portfolio, waiting lists and planned policy changes.

Santos said HACA administers both project-based and tenant-based vouchers and ‘‘administers 2,679 vouchers supporting affordable housing stability for thousands of residents across Buncombe County.’’ She described HACA’s owned inventory as about 1,525 affordable units and said HACA serves roughly 1,154 households through tenant-based vouchers.

The presentation highlighted long waiting lists: Santos said the project-based voucher waitlist contains about 4,000 households and the tenant-based list about 3,300 applicants, with some households waiting since 2019. ‘‘These wait lists highlight and reflect the growing gap between the need and urgency for affordable housing and the resources available to meet that demand,’’ she said.

Santos reviewed income eligibility and payment rules, noting the Asheville metro area AMI figure used in HACA slides and that HACA applies a payment standard set at HUD’s fair market rent plus 20 percent for rent and utilities. On rents for HACA-owned properties, she said HACA’s RAD contract rents remain ‘‘well below HUD’s cap’’ after operating adjustments.

On program design, Santos described Moving to Work (MTW) initiatives HACA has used since 2023—landlord incentives, simplified income verification and stepped rent—and said the authority plans two MTW waivers: triennial recertification and a work requirement that would generally require households to maintain at least 15 hours per week of employment, with exemptions for the elderly, disabled, caregivers and special voucher holders. Santos said stepped rent ‘‘offers predictable increases over time’’ and hardship adjustments would remain available.

Santos also discussed special-purpose vouchers, including HUD-VASH for veterans and Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHV). On EHVs, staff said HUD has signaled that EHV funding ‘‘is going to end this year,’’ and HACA is planning to transition affected households onto other voucher types or standard assistance where possible.

Santos described HACA’s use of project-based vouchers to support affordable development—HACA can project-base up to 20 percent of its vouchers (about 535 agencywide) under HUD rules—and listed several ongoing LIHTC projects HACA is supporting. She also told the committee that, after recent HUD funding guidance, HACA will ‘‘pause on issuing any additional project based vouchers for [new] developers’’ while honoring commitments already made; she said the authority expects further guidance by summertime.

Members asked detailed questions about landlord enrollment, unit types that can accept vouchers and how county-funded projects such as Cox Avenue will tie into PBV allocations. Santos and HACA staff offered to provide project-specific voucher counts and follow up with the committee by email.

The presentation concluded with Santos urging continued cross-sector partnerships and disaster preparedness planning with county emergency management staff to improve housing resilience.

The committee did not take formal action on HACA proposals during the meeting; Santos committed to follow up with numeric clarifications and to share RFP timing and other details once HUD’s guidance clarifies the funding outlook.