Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC works toward a future where we all have home choices that meet our needs in neighborhoods that keep us connected.
Those neighborhoods may include great transit, a community where family and friends are neighbors, or complete neighborhoods with walkable errands and jobs. As we move through our lives, we find smaller and larger homes as our needs change, while staying in communities we love. We imagine a day where this is true for everyone: owners and renters, and people of all ethnicities and income levels.
FEATURED EVENT
March 28 - Missing Middle Housing: TL;DR. An event exploring what middle housing is and why we need it.
5:30 - 7:00pm in Ferguson Auditorium at AB Tech Community College
Wait – so you’re saying that you did NOT read the 150+ page report that came out just before the holidays? We feel you. And this event is for you. We want everyone to understand what is meant by the term middle housing – because it may not be what you expect. We also want to talk about why it would be a good thing for our community if we could get more of it.
Homes like duplexes, triplexes, granny flats, and townhomes are considered middle housing. Often called “missing middle housing”, these types of homes used to be common across Asheville and cities throughout the United States. However, due to the adoption and rise of exclusionary zoning policies designed to keep people of color and renters out, these home types – which are more naturally affordable – were banned from our communities. Today, our communities still feel the legacy of these exclusionary zoning rules, and most of the homes we built today are larger and more expensive as a result.
This event will include speakers representing different interests in our community – from environmentalists to housing advocates to older adults – addressing specifically what middle housing means for them. We’ll have plenty of visuals so you can see examples of middle housing types and maybe even see some homes you recognize. You’ll have opportunities to ask questions and also share with us your thoughts. Admission is free, we ask that you RSVP so that we can ensure we have space and seating for everyone.
We hope to see you there!
This event is Co-hosted by: MountainTrue and Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC, AARP NC Mountain Region, Asheville City Association of Educators, Asheville for All, Asheville Food and Beverage United, Asheville on Bikes, Buncombe County Association of Educators, Just Economics, Mountain Housing Opportunities, and Thrive Asheville.
WHO WE ARE
Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC is a program of MountainTrue, a regional nonprofit organization championing resilient forests, clean waters, and healthy communities in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains. MountainTrue has been working to protect the places we share since 1982 by fighting threats like oil and gas extraction within our region’s National Forests and also by promoting responsible land use according to smart growth principles.
Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC is an expansion of our Healthy Communities program, and we hope you’ll join us in supporting policies that protect and create homes for our neighbors in places that reduce our collective carbon footprint.
Our Platform
We know that healthy communities exist within the context of a healthy environment — and right now, both are threatened. There is a housing shortage across the country, with many hard-working families unable to find a place to live. There is also a climate crisis, with greenhouse gas emissions threatening the stability of all our planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity. We believe that the following principles represent one piece of the solution to both of these crises:
- Re-legalizing a variety of modest, mid-size home choices, like accessory dwelling units, duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes in residential city neighborhoods.
- Protecting our farms and forests for carbon sequestration by building up within our existing cities and towns, instead of out where new land must be cleared, new roads built, and reliance on personal vehicles increases.
- Preserving existing homes and buildings is an efficient use of resources, generates less waste than new construction, and is an important way to prevent displacement of our neighbors.
- Investments in multi-modal transportation networks like transit and bike lanes allow more families to live in close proximity to town centers without increasing vehicular traffic and congestion.
Show your support & endorse the N4MNWNC platform
Our Partners
We collaborate with the following partners who support building more housing options for our communities in a sustainable way that also protects the natural beauty and vitality of our mountain region. We all agree that more homes are needed in our communities and that building various housing types in places where infrastructure already exists will improve the health and quality of life for existing and new neighbors.
LATEST NEWS
Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC Supports Project Aspire
Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC Supports Road Safety for all Users in Downtown Asheville
We Are Speaking Up in Support of Needed Housing in Hiawassee, GA
Resources
How the US made affordable homes illegal
Vox on YouTube, August 16, 2021
Vox provides this video explainer about how exclusionary zoning has created a housing shortage that affects everyone.
Yes in Our Backyards. It's time progressives like me learned to love the green building boom.
Mother Jones, April, 2023
Bill McKibben writes on the need to see our backyards as global and to be open to sharing our space with new neighbors.
There is Unrest in the Urban Forest
Strong Towns, January 12, 2022
This article from StrongTowns explains how the tension between tree preservationists and pro-housing advocates represents a false choice between trees and homes.
Housing Needs Assessment 2021 for Western North Carolina
Bowen National Research Report for Dogwood Health Trust, 2021
A housing needs assessment for the 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary tribal trust land within Western North Carolina.
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC
We are a program of MountainTrue that advocates for more diverse housing options for our neighbors and works to decrease sprawl to protect WNC's farms and forests.
Don't Let Airbnb Overpower Locals: Our County Commission Needs to Hear from Us!
secure.everyaction.com
The short-term rental industry lobby has been turning out in force to public meetings to take advantage of our county. Let our county leaders know that you support reasonable and measured regulations ...
Backyard Housing Poll - PublicInput
publicinput.com
The City of Asheville is considering revisions to regulations that would expand options for housing in residential areas that would likely be more affordable and would provide greater flexibility for ...
The Culture War Tearing American Environmentalism Apart
www.theatlantic.com
In Minneapolis, the housing shortage has fractured the green community.
A critical element that supports more housing options in our communities is reliable public transit. Tell the City of Asheville and Buncombe County to invest in greater bus frequency for South Asheville because all of us deserve mobility options. https://bit.ly/3TigK7L
Susan Bean, of Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC, talks to WLOS about how building more diverse housing where infrastructure already exists preserves our forests and farms, reduces our dependency on cars and helps alleviate our region's housing shortage.
Affirmations to Ben Brown, N4MN WNC volunteer, for this great pro-housing article in the Mountain Xpress! "Turns out everything's connected. And housing may well be the nexus . . . "
So grateful that Asheville City Council supported multi-modal transportation improvements in downtown last night. Changing our transportation infrastructure is no small task, however we believe that improvements like these pave the way for increased residential density. Onward!