Asheville took a practical step toward expanding the city’s housing options on Aug. 25, when City Council approved zoning amendments allowing more duplexes and accessory dwelling units, or ADUs.
Ahead of the vote, Builders Association of the Blue Ridge Mountains Executive Officer Megan Carroll urged City Council to support the changes. While the amendments will not solve Asheville’s housing shortage on their own, their approval removes barriers to creating more attainable homes and gives local families and property owners greater flexibility.
What Will the Amendments Change?
The approved amendments expand the areas where duplexes are allowed, opening 12,484 additional acres of city-zoned land to this type of housing. They also increase the maximum size of ADUs from 800 to 1,000 square feet and allow one ADU on a duplex lot.
ADUs can include backyard cottages, garage apartments, basement apartments, or additions to existing homes. Along with duplexes, they are often described as “middle housing” because they fall between a traditional single-family home and a large apartment building.
These smaller-scale homes can create more choices for people at different ages and income levels while fitting within existing neighborhoods. An ADU might allow an aging parent to live near family while maintaining independence. It could give a young adult a more affordable place to get established or provide rental income that helps a homeowner manage rising taxes, insurance, and maintenance costs.
Because duplexes and ADUs can share land and infrastructure, they can also make more efficient use of existing streets, water and sewer systems, transit, and public services.
A Meaningful Step Forward
As Carroll acknowledged in her letter, zoning reform is not a cure-all. The cost of land, materials, labor, financing, and infrastructure will continue to affect whether homes can be built and what they ultimately cost.
Those challenges make it even more important to remove unnecessary barriers where possible. By approving these amendments, City Council has given builders and homeowners more ways to add housing within developed areas while reducing some of the pressure on land surrounding the city.
The vote also recognizes that Asheville residents have a wide variety of housing needs. Not everyone needs or can afford a detached single-family home, and not everyone wants to live in a large apartment community. Duplexes and ADUs help fill the gap between those choices.
“This vote is not a cure-all, but it is a win for Asheville,” Carroll says. “It gives homeowners, builders, and families more options while making better use of the land and infrastructure we already have. Now, we need to build on that momentum and keep removing barriers to the homes our community needs.”
