Jess Young McLean

In one word, what is the top issue that is motivating you to run for Asheville City Council?

Poverty

The region is still recovering from Hurricane Helene — and likely will be for a long time. Considering that resources will be limited, where do you prioritize putting the redevelopment funds?

Recovery funds should prioritize stabilizing people’s lives now while reducing harm in the future. That means keeping families housed, restoring essential infrastructure, and supporting workers and local businesses—but doing so intentionally and equitably.

In the days and weeks after Helene, I worked directly with families in Housing Authority of the City of Asheville communities, supporting food access and basic needs while power and water were out. Since then, I’ve served through the Buncombe County Long Term Recovery Group and the Just Recovery Collaborative, where I’ve seen how recovery decisions shape who gets help, how quickly, and who is left navigating barriers alone.

That experience has reinforced that recovery isn’t neutral. If we default to business as usual, resources tend to flow to those with the most access and capacity. Redevelopment funds must center BIPOC- and grassroots-led organizations already doing trusted, on-the-ground work—mutual aid, community organizing, and participatory decision-making rooted in lived experience.

I also value the work of the Government Accountability Project of Asheville in tracking where CDBG-DR and other redevelopment dollars are going and highlighting the need for equity and anti-displacement safeguards. The deep community connection and resilience built through this kind of inclusive recovery is what will help Asheville emerge stronger—and better prepared for the next climate crisis.

One of the biggest issues facing Asheville is lack of affordable housing. What is your top policy change that you think would help address the situation?

My top priority is aligning housing policy with equity, infrastructure, and long-term stability for families and children. Asheville’s housing challenges did not happen by accident. Past zoning practices, including redlining and urban renewal, displaced Black families and neighborhoods and created wealth and homeownership gaps that continue to shape who has access to housing today.

Increasing housing supply alone does not close those gaps. Even when new housing is built, large portions of our community remain priced out due to income inequality and barriers to ownership and stability. That is why housing policy must increase options while also reducing displacement risk and expanding access.

This means pairing new deeply affordable housing, including missing middle and multifamily options, with displacement risk assessment, tenant protections, and targeted investments in historically under-resourced neighborhoods. It also requires addressing infrastructure honestly. In some communities, residents pay high property taxes while lacking adequate stormwater, sewer, or flood protection. Building without fixing these systems shifts costs onto longtime residents rather than creating opportunity.

Success should be measured by outcomes, not unit counts - fewer families forced to move, children able to stay in their schools, and residents able to build stability and wealth in place. When housing policy is grounded in repair, infrastructure, and community voice, it becomes a tool for long-term stability instead of another source of harm.

The city is facing a budget deficit of at least $30 million. How would you prioritize allocating what funds the city does have? Is there a section of the budget where you would make budgetary cuts, or would you choose to raise property taxes? 

Budgets are moral documents. They reflect what and who we value.

It would be irresponsible to propose cuts, tax increases, or revenue changes without a clear, transparent understanding of the city’s full financial picture. That means digging into revenues and expenditures, being honest about what is included or excluded and why, and working closely with city staff to ask hard questions and problem-solve together.

I bring deep budgeting and governance experience and an additive mindset focused on long-term stability, not short-term scarcity. In my nonprofit leadership, I’ve grown operating revenue by streamlining operations, reducing duplication, building partnerships, and collaborating across systems.

I would prioritize protecting services that meet basic needs and prevent higher costs down the line, especially those supporting children, families, and workers. I’m skeptical of austerity that cuts essential services only to create deeper instability later. I’m open to revenue conversations, including taxes, if they are progressive, transparent, and tied to clear public benefit. Strong budgets are about smart, sustainable investments that deliver lasting returns for Asheville.

The City of Asheville and Buncombe County spent years working on a reparations plan for Black residents. Now the federal government is withholding funds from any entity that refers to DEI or that singles out a specific race for any special consideration and is actively discouraging DEI initiatives in local government. What is your feeling about the work the Community Reparations Commission produced?  Would you implement its recommendations considering the federal restrictions? How?

The Community Reparations Commission did essential work by documenting the truth about Asheville’s history. Through redlining, urban renewal, and discriminatory zoning and lending practices, local government played a direct role in displacing Black residents, destroying neighborhoods, and stripping families of wealth and opportunity. That history is well documented through city records, community testimony, and local archival work, and its impacts are still visible today in housing access, income, health, and educational outcomes.

Federal pressure should not cause us to abandon that truth or our responsibility to respond to it. Preemptively complying out of fear sets a dangerous precedent. If local governments retreat from equity and accountability whenever they are threatened, we open the door to doing so in every area of public life. Democracy depends on the courage to stand by our values, even when it is uncomfortable.

Implementing the Commission’s recommendations will require careful legal analysis under current federal constraints, but it is both possible and necessary to move forward. Local government still has tools to advance repair through place-based investment, housing and land-use policy, anti-displacement strategies, access to capital, and budget decisions that prioritize communities historically harmed by public policy.

Reparations are not about symbolism. They are about repair, responsibility, and changing the systems that produced inequity in the first place. I support moving forward with the Commission’s work in ways that are lawful, transparent, and focused on material outcomes, because choosing inaction only guarantees that historic harms continue into the future.

Do you think the current City Council has prioritized the right issues?  If yes, why are those the right issues?  If not, where would you re-direct the focus?

City Council has taken on many important and urgent issues, especially downstream challenges like housing instability, public safety concerns, health impacts, climate disaster recovery, and access to food and transportation. Those issues are real, and local government has to respond to them.

Where I would redirect focus is upstream. Too often, we are locked in a cycle of reacting to crises without investing enough in the conditions that prevent them in the first place. Education disparities, opportunity gaps, and structural inequities show up downstream as housing instability, poor health outcomes, violence, and economic insecurity.

Upstream investments matter. When we strengthen early childhood education, literacy, and pathways to continued education and living-wage jobs, we reduce many of the challenges that strain city systems later. When we eliminate food apartheid in predominantly BIPOC and low-income neighborhoods, we improve health outcomes and reduce the need for emergency food responses. These are not abstract ideas; they are practical strategies that build safer, healthier, and more resilient communities.

I understand this is not an either-or. City government must be both reactive and proactive. But we have an opportunity to better balance that spectrum by investing intentionally in upstream solutions while continuing to address immediate needs.

I also believe City Council should reflect our community and operate as a space for creative problem-solving and consensus-building. That means asking good questions, reading the research, listening deeply to people with lived and professional experience, and working together to make decisions that improve everyday life for families across Asheville.

What do you love about Asheville that you want to see more of?

What I love most about Asheville is our children and young people, and the learning ecosystem that surrounds them. As a nonprofit leader with Read to Succeed Asheville/Buncombe, a long-time reading tutor, and a partner to schools, early childhood providers, and out-of-school-time programs, I see every day how hard students are working to learn, to be seen, and to have their brilliance recognized.

I also see adults across our city showing up for them. Educators, youth workers, librarians, tutors, and families are collaborating in powerful ways, even when our state government fails to adequately resource public education. I don’t want to glorify how overworked or underpaid these professionals are. I want to celebrate the public-private partnerships that are stepping in to support schools and early learning, the strength of our local teachers’ unions advocating alongside school districts, and the growing focus on literacy that helps students truly access the world in the information age.

I want to see more of this. More investment in early childhood and youth learning. More pathways connecting education to workforce training, trades, and college. When we support children’s learning from the start, we build a stronger, more resilient Asheville for everyone.