Asheville is undertaking a multi-year update of its comprehensive plan and rewriting its development regulations. The City explicitly identifies housing supply, attainability, stability and affordability among the issues the new regulations are intended to address.

The Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) is essentially the rules governing what can be built and where within the City of Asheville.

And this isn’t hypothetical. On August 25, 2026, City Council approved three significant housing changes:

• Duplexes can now be built in all residential and certain mixed-use districts.
• Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) can be larger.
• Minimum off-street parking requirements were eliminated.

Those changes came directly out of Asheville’s Missing Middle work.

One of the striking findings from that study was that roughly two-thirds of Asheville neighborhoods allowed only single-family housing under the prior regulatory structure.

So when you hear “UDO update,” think:

Asheville is deciding how and where the city will accommodate growth—and whether its development rules make it easier or harder to create the kinds of housing our workforce needs.

The UDO applies to Asheville, but housing affordability is a countywide issue. Buncombe County has its own land-use policies for unincorporated areas and its own tools for encouraging and investing in housing.

The County’s 2043 Comprehensive Plan identifies expanding and protecting affordable and accessible housing choices as a priority and calls for a greater mix of housing types in areas appropriate for growth.

The County also directly invests in housing through its Affordable Housing Services Program, which provides grants and loans to nonprofit and for-profit partners. Funding can support affordable housing construction, preservation and rehabilitation, down-payment assistance, rental assistance, emergency home repairs and other housing needs.

Buncombe County also uses its zoning authority to encourage affordable and middle-income housing. Its Community-Oriented Development (COD) program can provide density bonuses of up to 250% for developments that include affordable and middle-income housing along with other community, environmental/transit and economic benefits.

The County’s Affordable Housing Subcommittee is also actively reviewing housing policy and funding. The Subcommittee makes recommendations to the Board of Commissioners and, in 2026, has been reviewing updates to the Affordable Housing Services Program.

A new $40 million Housing Bond is on the ballot in November 2026. If approved by Buncombe County voters, the bond would provide additional funding to increase housing for people with low to moderate incomes, including related infrastructure and land acquisition. The County’s goals include supporting 1,500–1,850 rental units and 400 homeownership units for households earning below 80% of Area Median Income (AMI).

This would build on the County’s 2022 Affordable Housing Bond and give Buncombe County another significant source of funding to leverage alongside federal, state and other resources.

The City and County therefore have different—but complementary—roles. Asheville’s UDO update is a major opportunity to change what housing can be built within the city, while Buncombe County can influence housing through its own land-use decisions, development incentives, public investment and implementation of its Comprehensive Plan.

Neither can address the region’s housing challenge alone.

ALLOW MORE HOUSING TYPES. The recent Asheville duplex and ADU changes are a start. Future UDO decisions could determine whether Asheville makes it easier to build townhomes, triplexes, small apartment buildings, cottage developments and other housing between a detached house and a large apartment complex. Buncombe County’s Comprehensive Plan similarly calls for supporting a greater mix of housing types in areas appropriate for growth.

ALLOW MORE HOUSING IN THE RIGHT PLACES. There is an opportunity to accommodate more housing around employment centers, commercial corridors, existing infrastructure and transportation rather than continuing to push workers farther from where they work. Where that growth occurs matters. In some areas of Buncombe County, the availability of water, sewer and transportation infrastructure can determine whether additional housing is feasible.

REDUCE BARRIERS THAT MAKE HOUSING DIFFICULT OR EXPENSIVE TO BUILD. Parking, lot requirements, approval processes and other development standards can affect whether a housing project is financially feasible. Asheville’s UDO rewrite provides an opportunity to examine those barriers within the city. Buncombe County can similarly consider its land-use and development rules as it implements the 2043 Comprehensive Plan. The goal isn’t simply less regulation. The question is whether local rules make it unnecessarily difficult to create the types of housing the community needs.

INVEST PUBLIC DOLLARS IN HOUSING THE MARKET WON’T PRODUCE ON ITS OWN. Changing zoning and increasing housing supply are important, but they will not make every new home affordable to someone earning $35,000 or $45,000 a year. The City of Asheville invests in affordable housing through tools including its Housing Trust Fund, Affordable Housing Bond, federal housing resources and Helene recovery funding. Buncombe County provides grants and loans through its Affordable Housing Services Program to support affordable housing development and preservation, homeownership, rental assistance, emergency repairs and other housing needs.

USE INCENTIVES TO CREATE AFFORDABLE AND MIDDLE-INCOME HOUSING. Local government can also encourage private development to include housing that meets community needs. Buncombe County’s Community-Oriented Development program is one example: developers can receive additional density in exchange for providing affordable and middle-income housing and other community benefits.

PRESERVE WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE. New construction gets a lot of attention, but preserving existing affordable and lower-cost housing is also critical. That can include rehabilitating existing homes and apartments, preserving income-restricted housing, protecting naturally occurring lower-cost housing, and helping existing homeowners make repairs that allow them to remain in their homes.

ADDRESS DISPLACEMENT ALONGSIDE GROWTH. Increasing housing supply and protecting existing residents should not be treated as opposing goals. Asheville’s UDO work explicitly identifies displacement as an issue, and Buncombe County’s Comprehensive Plan also recognizes the importance of preserving housing affordability and protecting existing residents as the region grows.

TREAT HOUSING AS A REGIONAL WORKFORCE ISSUE. The housing market doesn’t stop at Asheville’s city limits. Someone may work at an Asheville museum, gallery, restaurant, hotel or performance venue but live in Candler, Weaverville, Woodfin, Black Mountain or elsewhere in Buncombe County. Housing, transportation, infrastructure and workforce availability are interconnected. Where people can afford to live affects the ability of businesses and organizations throughout Asheville–Buncombe to recruit and retain workers.

You don’t need to become a housing expert. What policymakers need from you is an understanding of what housing costs are doing to the people, organizations and businesses that make up Asheville–Buncombe’s creative economy.

Focus on a few basic outcomes:

MORE HOUSING THAT PEOPLE WORKING HERE CAN ACTUALLY AFFORD. Asheville–Buncombe needs housing at a range of price points. That means both increasing the overall housing supply and continuing public investment in housing that the market will not produce on its own.<

MORE HOUSING CHOICES. Our workforce needs more options between a detached single-family house and a large apartment complex—including smaller homes, duplexes, townhomes, ADUs and small multifamily developments.

MORE OPPORTUNITIES TO LIVE NEAR WORK. Workers shouldn’t have to move farther and farther away simply to find housing they can afford. Longer commutes increase transportation costs and make it harder for local businesses and organizations to recruit and retain employees.

PUBLIC INVESTMENT WHERE THE MARKET ISN’T ENOUGH. Land-use changes can make it possible to create more housing, but they won’t make every new home affordable to people earning lower wages. City and County investment is also needed to create and preserve housing affordable at lower income levels.

PRESERVATION AS WELL AS PRODUCTION. Creating new housing is important, but so is preserving existing affordable and lower-cost housing.

GROWTH WITHOUT PUSHING PEOPLE OUT. Asheville–Buncombe needs more housing while also helping existing residents remain in their homes and communities.

“Housing has become a workforce issue for Asheville–Buncombe’s creative economy. Artists and employees of arts organizations and creative businesses need more housing choices at price points local wages can support. We need the City and County to use the tools each has—from land-use policy and development incentives to infrastructure, public investment and partnerships—to create and preserve more housing while protecting existing residents from displacement.”

Make it personal. You don’t need to bring housing statistics to the conversation. Add one sentence about what you are actually experiencing:

• “We have employees who cannot afford to live near where they work.”
• “Housing costs are making it harder for us to recruit and retain employees.”
• “Artists we work with are moving farther away or leaving the area.”
• “Our salaries simply have not kept pace with local housing costs.”
• “Longer commutes are creating additional costs and challenges for our employees.”

Your experience is useful evidence. Housing policy affects whether Asheville–Buncombe can retain the people who work here and sustain the creative economy that helps make this community distinctive.