Letter to Asheville City Council in Support of ADU Cleanup Amendment

Asheville For All sent the following letter to Asheville City Council ahead of the council’s January 27th meeting.

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Dear Asheville City Council,

We are writing to express support for the UDO amendment on this week’s council agenda which “would allow existing nonconforming structures to be converted into Accessory Dwelling Units without Board of Adjustment review.”

The amendment is a small, “cleanup” measure. It only affects existing structures, and doesn’t address the recommendations proposed in the 2023 Asheville Missing Middle Housing Study, such as removing parking mandates for ADUs or increasing maximum size to 1,000 square feet.

Still, it is a step forward, and the Board of Adjustment has proven its need.

We appreciate the Planning and Urban Design Department’s strong memo this week that outlines the amendment’s benefits to all kinds of neighborhoods, and their presentation which notes that this amendment is “one small way that the City can address concerns about how to keep existing residents here in Asheville.” We want to highlight Asheville’s 2024 Affordable Housing Plan’s recommendation on incentivizing ADUs, which was labeled as both an anti-displacement measure and a “top priority,” and which pointed out that such pro-housing reforms as ADUs and “missing middle” should not discriminate in bringing “opportunity” to “different parts of the city” (p. 50).

Displacement is happening every day in Asheville, and one reason predominates as to why: without attainable housing options, renters and first-time homebuyers are pitted against each other by scarcity.

The city’s response to our housing shortage doesn’t need to come all at once. (Both of the city’s aforementioned plans are quite clear on this.) We do hope that you will elect to pass this UDO amendment, and to continue to pass whatever further anti-displacement measures come to you, in whatever order that happens, including: broad, missing middle reforms such as allowing quadplexes everywhere; restoring and revising the Land Use Incentive Grant for subsidized housing; eliminating costly parking mandates citywide; an ADU loan program; and requiring source-of-payment non-discrimination on any developments that receive city support. (Note that all of these above suggestions are defined as anti-displacement measures by the 2023 Missing Middle Housing Study and Displacement Risk Assessment and the 2024 Affordable Housing Plan.)

Finally, we want to add a note of appreciation for the work that Planning and Urban Design has been doing in terms of outreach. In their memo, they note their “increased commitment to neighborhood awareness, and data collection and reporting.” We strongly believe that informing property owners and renters alike about the benefits of ADU reform and other anti-displacement measures is an important and worthwhile endeavor that will increase community buy-in and move Asheville towards the goal of decreasing our housing gap.

Thank you as always for your consideration and for all that you do.

Asheville For All Lead Organizers