My name is Shea Kinser, and I’m the new Asheville Housing Organizer with MountainTrue. In my role I’ll be educating and mobilizing community members to advocate for housing policy reform in the city so we can build sustainable communities and protect the environment.
I’m drawn to this work for a number of reasons. First, I’ve always been an environmentalist. I’m sure I could dig up some memorabilia from the Save the Earth Club that my friends and I started in third grade; we were very concerned back then with protecting rainforest creatures and their habitats. Decades later, my interest in these issues hasn’t changed. Here in Western North Carolina, I want to organize residents to defend our region’s mountain ecosystems and build resilience against the worst effects of climate change. If we construct much-needed housing in and up within our existing communities, we lessen sprawl and the harms it causes the forests and waterways that I’ve already come to treasure in my short tenure here.
Which brings me to another reason this housing work resonates with me. To all the Neighbors for More Neighbors WNC supporters out there who’d like to welcome more people to their block, you can count me among the new arrivals. I moved to the area last summer, and I’ve enjoyed getting to know my new home: meeting new people, finding a new jogging route, comparing local pizza places. I wish for everyone to find so much to enjoy about where they live — but it would be even better if all of these things were within walking distance of each other or along a transit corridor! For me, advocating for policies that would build more vibrant, sustainable communities through diverse housing options within Asheville means creating more opportunities for people at all income levels and ages to live in affordable housing near the anchors of their everyday life, while also building stronger connections with their neighbors, new and old.
I’m so glad to be a part of the MountainTrue Healthy Communities team, and I look forward to meeting you! Let me know that you’d like to get involved in advocating for more housing options in Asheville by emailing me at shea@mountaintrue.org, and I’ll be in touch soon.