"Bleak." "Broken." "Discouraging."
These are the words Brevard City Council members used to describe the state of local affordable housing. And their assessment was correct, according to a presentation given by the city’s planning department during the council’s Monday meeting.
There are currently no one-bedroom rentals in the city, according to the presentation. Even if one existed, the average rent would be more than $1,900.
More than half of renters in the city are cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing and related utility costs, according to the city’s 2030 land use plan.
“As discouraging as these numbers can be, there are paths forward, and we just have to keep the vision,” Councilman Lauren Wise said.
Local governments across Western North Carolina, as well as current and prospective residents, are grappling with higher housing costs and affordability.
Renters are not the only ones feeling the pinch. The city’s housing vacancy rate is below 1% and new home prices have more than doubled since 2020, according to a 2023 Affordable Housing report from the University of North Carolina’s Development Finance Initiative.
The issue is compounded by a lack of developable land in Brevard.
Home sales increased by 50% during the pandemic. Many of those were second-home and investor purchases, according to the Housing Needs Assessment. Since 2020, 40% of the homes sold were purchased by people or companies with mailing addresses outside Transylvania County.
“Purchasing a home may be difficult for young professionals and families, while demand for higher-end homes and increasing speculation in short-term rentals may exacerbate the shortage of workforce and affordable housing,” according to the city’s 2030 land use plan.
“Housing in Brevard is broken to a certain extent,” Councilman Aaron Baker said during Monday’s meeting. “For many people, they can no longer afford to live in a place that they love.”
Senior Planner Emily Brewer gave councilmembers a rundown of what the city has done to address the issue.
The latest is a move to sell city land that is “unsuitable for larger housing development.” Proceeds will fund future housing subsidies to developers through an affordable housing trust fund.
Currently, the city’s affordable housing trust fund has $645,000. This money can be used for grants for developers who want to build affordable housing units and grants for homeowners and renters, among other projects.
READ MORE: Transylvania pitches sales tax hike to ‘ease burden’ on property owners; voters to decide
Earlier this month, Brevard’s Housing Committee agreed to recommend that the city council sell two parcels to support the housing trust fund. The first is a .1-acre piece of land donated to the city for creating housing. The land was initially offered to Habitat for Humanity but rejected because of issues with the title, city officials said.
The property was appraised for $75,000 in 2021, according to Transylvania County tax records. The second parcel, a 1.3-acre lot on Cashiers Valley Road, is valued at $39,000, according to a 2021 appraisal.
City Council members have not yet voted on the proposed sale.
“I truly believe that the small town feel is built by the people – the firefighters, the restaurant servers, the school teachers – that live here. And the ability of those people to still remain in Brevard is what is going to make Brevard keep that small town feel,” Baker said. “If we become a resort town for the mega-wealthy, it is not going to feel like a small town.
Affordable housing is the key to maintaining that.”
Lease of church’s land to explore new housing project
The other ongoing project aimed at addressing the need for more affordable units is a proposed affordable housing development being built on land owned by Brevard-Davidson River Presbyterian Church. The size and scope of the development is unclear but Housing Committee members have said they prefer a multi-story building.
In June, the city entered into a 3-year lease with the church for a 4.5-acre lot behind the church. During the initial lease period, the city will “assess the feasibility of development on the site.”
That will be paid for through the city’s Housing Trust Fund.
At the end of the 3-year lease, the City will have the option to purchase the lot. Under the terms of the lease, the property can be used only for affordable housing rental units — restricted to households making 80% or less of the area median income.
For a two-person household in Brevard, the 80% threshold is $44,000. Those making less than that number include some elementary school teachers, firefighters and seniors on Social Security income, according to city officials.
Half of the people working in Transylvania County are employed in industries with average salaries under the 80% threshold, according to the 2023 UNC report.
The project was set to be discussed at two public forums this week but the city canceled both. According to city officials, a geotechnical survey found that the composition of the soil is not solid enough to begin construction.
“Special construction measures are needed to make the property developable. We are now waiting on information that provides, among other things, an estimate of what those measures would cost,” Becky McCann, the city’s communications coordinator, wrote to BPR News in an email.
Amid a push for more construction projects funded with affordable housing trust fund dollars, city leaders have also made policy changes aimed at increasing housing inventory and guiding development.
Over the past two years the city has made changes to its zoning to allow for things like accessory dwelling units and more recently, cluster home development. The city will also soon unveil architectural standards for new affordable housing units to ensure they “align with the character of Brevard.”
