Asheville for All

April 20, 2025 Updated: May 15, 2025

UPDATE: Unfortunately, these four bills no longer appear to have valid paths forward. Stay up to date on future actions by signing up for Asheville For All emails here.

Last month, we told you about a bill in the North Carolina General Assembly that would make a big difference for housing costs across the state.

This month, we have four more bills to tell you about!

They have all been introduced in the Senate by Buncombe County’s own Senator Julie Mayfield. A couple of these bills in particular could be game changing for Asheville AND North Carolina, and they need your support.

SB497: Expand Middle Housing

You probably know that Asheville has struggled with enacting meaningful “missing middle” pro-housing reforms. (If you’re not familiar with the term, check out our primer.) Even after the publication of the 2023 Asheville Missing Middle Housing Study and Displacement Risk Assessment warned that displacement would be exacerbated by failure to act, City Council has delayed and delayed action on even the most modest of reforms for our core residential neighborhoods.

SB497 would make it illegal for Asheville and other cities to cave in to the city’s NIMBYs when it comes to these modest changes. Specifically, it would make it legal for any residential lot in the city to have up to six homes. The bill also includes important language that would eliminate the various incentives in our zoning code that favor single-family-home construction even where apartments are already allowed.

📖 Read the text of SB497.

SB499: Allow Housing Near Jobs

This bill would make it mandatory for apartments to be allowed anywhere that is zoned for things like restaurants, offices, and retail. In Asheville, we already allow homes in our commercial zones. But this is a common sense reform that will help other cities.

📖 Read the text of SB499.

SB495: Regulation of Accessory Dwelling Units

This bill will make it easier for homeowners to build Accessory Dwelling Units—ADUs, or “granny flats”—on their property. ADUs are currently allowed in Asheville, but they are limited to a certain size. This bill would allow detached ADUs to be built up to the same square footage as the lot’s primary home, or 800 square feet, whichever is less. It would also make it illegal for cities to require off-street parking for ADUs.

While this bill may not bring in sweeping changes for Asheville, it may better incentivize ADUs in surrounding communities.

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