Draft Priorities, Goals and Strategies

Based on engagement and research through February 2024, the Enterprise team developed a set of recommended priorities, policy goals, and strategies for the community's feedback (summarized below). The team presented these preliminary recommendations in March 2024.

Background

The project will update the 2008 Affordable Housing Plan that was created by the Mayor’s Taskforce on Affordable Housing, which was last updated in 2015. Every five years, the city works with the Housing Consortium to write a Consolidated Plan which has goals and strategies to be used for federal funding. The City and community lacks a plan that directs the use of local funds and resources including the Housing Trust Fund, Land Use Incentive Grants and Bond dollars. The 2008 strategies did include strategies pertaining to unhoused people. An updated plan will also help the city plan for any future bond programs, and outline funding priorities for partnerships with other institutions (Buncombe County, Dogwood Health Trust). 

The new Affordable Housing Plan will: 

• Include an updated housing needs assessment, which is imperative given the changes in the market and demographic shifts during the pandemic. 

• Recommend a set of priorities for programming, funding, and new policy directions 

• Bring together stakeholders, advocates, and community members, engaging them to build a foundation for the plan and the future direction of affordable housing in the city. 

• Communicate to developers, both nonprofit and for-profit, what the city is looking to achieve. 

• Make recommendations for program changes in existing programs (Housing Trust Fund,  Land Use Incentive Program)

• Build a foundation for a future affordable housing bond.