Asheville for All

Here’s what we found to be the most important housing-related items at Asheville’s City Council meeting of Tuesday, April 28, 2026.

Conditional Zoning for 50 Coxe Avenue

Outcome: Approved

Votes:
In favor: S. Antanette Mosley, Kim Roney, Maggie Ullman, Sheneika Smith, Bo Hess, Sage Turner, Esther E. Manheimer

There was just one public hearing tonight, and it was for a seven-story apartment building in downtown Asheville.

This project may seem familiar. It was conceived and is being developed by the Buncombe County government; it’s using county-owned land, and is partially funded by the 2022 county affordable housing bond. About two years ago, Buncombe County did some outreach about it to shape the details of the project. You might remember this particular poll from 2024, where the county asked residents how ambitious they wanted the project to be. (Most respondents chose option “B,” the larger plan.)

The proposed apartments at 50 Coxe Avenue. These homes will be a very short walk from Asheville’s central bus station.

The project was ultimately approved unanimously by the City Council. And while the Planning and Zoning Commission hearing on the proposed homes earlier this Spring saw plenty of neighborhood opposition, that opposition did not manifest at the City Council hearing.

There was one odd thing that happened during the evening though, and it’s worth reviewing. For even though the end vote was unaminous, for a time during the public hearing it wasn’t clear that the city council was going to agree to approve the project at all.

A Question About the Project’s “Conditions”

50 Coxe Ave. will consist of more than two-hundred homes, and all of them will be offered at below-market rates. This is possible because of the county’s contributions to the project, but also because the project will receive the federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit, or LIHTC.

(Just about any project that is entirely below-market rate is an LIHTC project these days. Recall one from a couple of months ago in West Asheville near Patton Ave. and Louisiana Ave.)

For two years, the county had been advertising this project as meeting a range of income needs. Some homes would be restricted to individuals or families that make below thirty percent of the area median income (AMI), for example, while others might be restricted in a way that targets those that make below eighty percent. It’s common for developers, in order to conform to the rules of the LIHTC, to offer this kind of AMI spread across a project’s homes. (If you want to nerd out on these rules, you can find a summary of the LIHTC rules .)