Asheville Commission Advances 206 Affordable Housing Units on Coxe Avenue

Two county-owned parcels at 50 and 52 Coxe Avenue, once occupied by Buncombe County's election services office and an ID bureau, moved one step closer to becoming 206 units of deeply affordable housing after Asheville's Planning & Zoning Commission voted Tuesday to advance the project to City Council.

The $59.1 million development, proposed by Raleigh-based Harmony Housing Affordable Development in partnership with Buncombe County and the UNC School of Government's Development Finance Initiative, would serve households earning between 20% and 80% of area median income, roughly $13,000 to $67,000 annually. The current Buncombe County AMI stands at $68,019 per HUD's 2025 income limits.

The April 1 hearing stretched several hours, with neighbors and advocates filling the record with competing priorities. Supporters pointed to long waitlists for housing assistance and rising market rents; opponents raised concerns about density, traffic and the scale of proposed buildings on the South Slope corridor. County Community Development Division staffer Matt Card described the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Harmony Housing as "the starting point for advancing towards a development agreement."

The complex would include one-, two- and three-bedroom floor plans, with some units styled as townhomes, and a ground floor with retail space, services and amenities. A two-story, 121-space parking garage with entrances on both Coxe Avenue and Ravenscroft Drive is built into the plans. More contentiously, a segment of Sawyer Street between Coxe Avenue and Ravenscroft Drive would be permanently closed to vehicles and converted to a public pedestrian passageway, a proposal that drew particular scrutiny during Tuesday's hearing.

Harmony Housing was selected after county staff reviewed nine competing development proposals submitted between July and September 2024, distinguishing itself through an emphasis on maximizing multi-family units, parking and commercial integration.

The project has been years in the making. In March 2023, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners identified 50-52 Coxe Avenue as one of three county-owned sites targeted for affordable housing, alongside 30-80 Valley Street and 180 Erwin Hills Road. After a community input process involving more than 120 participants, commissioners voted in April 2024 to proceed with the full 200-unit concept. On March 18, 2025, the Board unanimously approved a Memorandum of Understanding with Harmony Housing, formally naming the developer.

The urgency behind the project is well documented. A Bowen National Research study found Asheville's median rent for a market-rate two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment hit $1,869, while the rental vacancy rate sits around 4%, still at the floor of what researchers consider a healthy market. Tropical Storm Helene compounded the shortage, damaging nearly 13,000 residential units in Buncombe County. The study identified the deepest housing gaps among families earning less than 50% of AMI, below roughly $46,550 for a family of four.

City Council approval remains the final hurdle before the project can secure building permits and begin construction. If the current timeline holds, work would start in 2026 and finish by 2029, converting land that until recently housed county election services and identification paperwork into the county's most ambitious single affordable housing project of this planning cycle.