Hendersonville unveils five‑year strategic housing plan aiming for 2,200 affordable homes

Hendersonville’s mayor pro tem, Jennifer Hensley, on May 27 unveiled the city’s five‑year strategic housing plan and said the council intends to move quickly from planning to action to keep residents, workers and seniors in the community.

"We didn't turn a blind eye to the challenges that our residents are facing," Hensley told an auditorium of residents and nonprofit partners. She said the plan — adopted unanimously by the council in December 2025 — is meant to be a roadmap for producing and preserving affordable homes and tracking measurable progress.

The plan sets five goals, 16 objectives, 10 strategies and roughly 48 action steps. Among the targets are supporting or accommodating 2,000–2,200 permanently affordable units for households in income categories the plan labels 1–3, and ensuring that about 45% of those newly produced affordable units are owner‑occupied to foster stability and wealth building.

"The plan includes clear objectives and specific thoughtful metrics for evaluating progress," said Shane Phillips in a recorded message played at the summit. Phillips, a national housing expert whose framework influenced the plan, urged the community to use the plan as a foundation rather than a final product.

City Attorney Angie Beaker and other staff walked the audience through key tools the plan will use. A priority is creating a community land trust — a nonprofit that would own land permanently and sell or lease structures on that land under ground‑lease terms to keep homes affordable over multiple generations. Beaker described the Chapel Hill model as one example, saying the city expects an incubation period during which the municipality helps establish the trust before it operates independently.

"The trust owns the real estate, the dirt, and they do a ground lease," Beaker said. Under the model she described, homeowners would buy structures at prices based on 30% of household income, and resale formulas would limit windfall gains to maintain long‑term affordability.

Leaders said the plan couples supply measures — permitting additional housing types such as manufactured and tiny homes and targeted zoning text changes — with policies to preserve existing affordable housing, expand subsidy options and strengthen city systems, including hiring staff. Council member Gina Baxter said the budget the council will vote on next week includes funding for a certified HUD housing specialist to coordinate the work and a plan to hire additional team members if the budget is approved.

The city described several initial implementation steps already under way: acquisition of three foreclosure parcels earmarked for the land trust, adoption of zoning adjustments to encourage naturally occurring affordable housing (including counting smaller units as half units in some districts), and development of a public housing dashboard to show progress on key performance indicators. Hensley said the city has secured $4,000,000 in grant funding and related housing resources to support early work.

At a public question‑and‑answer session, staff and community partners responded to resident concerns about homelessness services, substandard rental units and whether increased supply alone will lower rents. In response to a question about units under construction, the city’s Community Development Director said the dashboard captures projects at every stage and reported 742 units completed or under construction (details available on the online dashboard).

On homelessness, city officials said they have convened nonprofits, code enforcement and police to coordinate services and avoid criminalization; the city has also employed a social‑work position connected to law enforcement to assist outreach and housing navigation. On rent‑control questions, officials said North Carolina law precludes local rent control and noted the plan emphasizes minimum housing‑code enforcement, rehab funding (including CDBG disaster relief tied to Hurricane Helene) and expanding supply paired with subsidy to reduce pressures.

The summit also included remarks from nonprofit leaders and service providers. Madeline Offen of Pisco Legal Services praised the plan’s research basis and its potential to support eviction and foreclosure prevention; Meg Labek of Housing Assistance Corporation described recent disaster recovery and preservation work; Connie Stewart of Hendersonville Housing Authority outlined the authority’s role rehousing families displaced by Hurricane Helene; and Robert Hooper of WNC Source described voucher administration and local program delivery challenges.

What comes next: staff plan to launch a public survey to recruit potential community land trust applicants, convene partner organizations at a facilitated workshop on Aug. 27, and publish the dashboard so residents can monitor the city’s progress. The council’s recommended budget vote next week will determine whether the proposed HUD housing specialist position and additional staff move forward.

The summit closed with an invitation for continued public engagement; Hensley urged residents to use the online portal and dashboard and thanked volunteers and partner organizations for their role in developing the plan.