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PRO-ENVIRONMENT AND PRO-HOUSING
What Asheville needs is more homes in the right places. By building in and up within the city limits, we can protect the natural landscapes that define this region, while also creating better-connected, more walkable neighborhoods for all to enjoy.
“Missing middle housing” refers to housing types that fall between single-family homes and large-scale apartment complexes — homes like duplexes, triplexes, cottage courts or townhomes, which have largely been missing from the residential housing market over the last 70 years. In addition to being more affordable, these types of homes are more energy efficient than single-family detached homes.
NEIGHBORS FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
When we push housing out of our neighborhoods, where do you think it will go? Small multi-family homes make sense within city limits, where residents have access to sidewalks, transit and existing infrastructure. Pushing these individuals and families outside the city contributes to sprawl, which:
- consumes more land and habitat.
- increases traffic, roads and pollution.
- destroys the farms, forests and watersheds we work to protect.
NEIGHBORS FOR THE COMMUNITY
More neighbors bring:
- more local shops, restaurants and amenities within walking distance.
- more customers for local businesses.
- more friendships and support networks.
That empty lot could be the future home of your new babysitter, dogwalker, plant-waterer or best friend. More neighbors means more game nights, more barbecues, more running partners and more recipes shared. When we make room for more, we welcome new ideas, energy and vibrancy to our neighborhoods. The empty lot doesn’t add character: The people do.
Smart, inclusive growth protects what we love. Keep Asheville green, connected and welcoming by saying YES to new neighbors.
WHO WE ARE
Block Party is an initiative of MountainTrue, a regional nonprofit organization championing resilient forests, clean waters and healthy communities in the Southern Blue Ridge Mountains. MountainTrue has been working to protect the places we share since 1982 by fighting threats like oil and gas extraction within our region’s National Forests and also by promoting responsible land use according to smart growth principles.
Driving forward the last of these three goals, MountainTrue expanded its Healthy Communities program to address two urgent challenges in Western North Carolina: a worsening housing shortage and a deepening climate crisis. Both stem, in part, from how and where we build our communities.
Join us in supporting policies that protect and create homes for our neighbors in places that reduce our collective carbon footprint.
Our Partners
We collaborate with the following partners who support building more housing options for our communities in a sustainable way that also protects the natural beauty and vitality of our mountain region. We all agree that more homes are needed in our communities and that building various housing types in places where infrastructure already exists will improve the health and quality of life for existing and new neighbors.
HOUSING + TRANSPORTATION NEWS
Asheville City Council Makes Big Changes to Support Housing!
