Asheville Housing Authority Cuts 34 Jobs, About 21 Percent of Workforce

Voucher renewals, maintenance requests, and housing inspections for thousands of Asheville families face potential delays after the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville eliminated 34 positions on April 7, cutting roughly one in five employees from the agency that keeps much of Buncombe County's affordable housing system functioning.

The reduction in force represents approximately 21 percent of HACA's total workforce, leaving the agency at an implied staffing level of around 162 full-time-equivalent positions. The affected roles have not been publicly itemized, but cuts of this scale at a public housing authority typically cut across administrative, program, and resident-facing departments: the staff who process Housing Choice Voucher applications, schedule unit inspections, manage maintenance backlogs, and provide case management for residents navigating housing instability.

HACA administers public housing units and distributes Housing Choice Vouchers throughout Asheville and parts of Buncombe County. Those vouchers are a lifeline for low- and moderate-income households. Without timely processing, families awaiting approval or annual recertification can face gaps in assistance that put their housing at risk. A maintenance backlog is equally consequential for residents in public housing, where unaddressed repairs can quickly become habitability concerns.

The timing compounds existing pressures on the agency. HACA has been navigating the ongoing aftermath of Hurricane Helene while managing active redevelopment projects tied to Low-Income Housing Tax Credits and Rental Assistance Demonstration conversions. Federal funding streams for public housing authorities, which flow primarily through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, have faced uncertainty alongside shifting federal policy priorities, and the layoffs appear to reflect those fiscal strains.

For tenants whose work orders or recertification paperwork may now sit in a longer queue, the most immediate step is documentation. Residents with pending maintenance requests or voucher renewals should contact HACA directly, record the date and nature of every request in writing, and flag urgent needs, particularly those involving heat, water, or structural safety, as high priority. HACA board meetings in coming weeks represent the first formal venue where a staffing stabilization plan may be presented publicly.

The scale of the reduction raises questions HACA's leadership has not yet answered: which specific positions were eliminated, what triggered the decision now, and whether any services will be formally suspended or handed to other agencies. For thousands of Buncombe County residents whose housing stability runs directly through HACA's offices, those answers are not administrative details; they determine whether someone's lights stay on or a leaking roof gets fixed this month.