Affordable Housing in Asheville: Foreclosure Prevention, Land Trusts, and Where Private Capital Fits In

Asheville's affordable price ceiling sits around $290,000, well below the roughly $512,000 median home sale, and closing that gap framed the 4th Annual Affordable Housing Panel, the August 2025 AVLmeetup at The Mule at Devil's Foot Beverage, where 60 people heard from Ross E. Hamilton of SavingHomes.org, Beth Silverman of the Lotus Campaign, and Anna Zuevskaya of the Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust.

Key Takeaways

The Ruiz Report data that opened the night put Buncombe County's affordable price ceiling around $290,000, based on a $70,000 area median household income at a 40% housing-to-income ratio, against a July 2025 median sale price of roughly $512,000.
Original list price versus sale price ran about 7% off across the county, meaning a seller listing a $400,000 home is typically pricing it about $28,000 wrong.
Ross Hamilton's nonprofit, SavingHomes.org, has helped more than a dozen families avoid foreclosure by crowdfunding mortgage reinstatements and recording an interest-free second mortgage that repays the fund once the home sells or refinances. He said $10 million would let SavingHomes.org scale to help roughly 2,500 people.
Beth Silverman's Lotus Campaign and partners put $300,000 into a $17 million multifamily property in Charlotte seven years ago, setting aside 20% of units for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. The deal just recapitalized at roughly two and a half to three times the original investment.
Anna Zuevskaya's Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust sells homes for usually less than half of market value and keeps them off the open market permanently. It recently bought a Burton Street home that had sat in foreclosure for six to nine months, after the husband died and his widow fell behind on the mortgage.

What Counts as Affordable in Buncombe County

Buncombe County's median household income was $70,000, per the numbers Zac Ruiz presented. At a 40% housing-to-income ratio, that pencils out to about $2,300 a month, or a $290,000 home, well under the county's roughly $512,000 median sale price in July 2025. Ruiz drew the line between two terms people use interchangeably: workforce housing covers 60% to 120% of area median income, or $42,000 to $84,000 a year, while affordable housing means below 60% of area median income. A live table question found that about 75% of attendees said they would need $500 a month in profit to be willing to be a landlord, and about 75% said they consider affordable housing to mean under $1,500, numbers that only reconcile with a cash purchase.

Keeping Families in the Homes They Already Have

Ross Hamilton's argument was that the most affordable house anyone will ever get is the one they are already in. "I believe the home someone's in is the most affordable house they're ever gonna get," he said, which is why SavingHomes.org focuses on foreclosure prevention over new construction. The nonprofit crowdfunds reinstatement of a family's past-due mortgage, similar to GoFundMe, then records an interest-free second mortgage against the property that repays the fund once the family sells or refinances, a loop Hamilton calls the generation donation. Built on lessons from subject-to investing, the model has helped more than a dozen families at $10,000 to $15,000 per home, and Hamilton said $10 million would scale it to roughly 2,500 people.

Land Trusts and Private Capital Filling the Gap

Anna Zuevskaya runs the Asheville-Buncombe Community Land Trust, which separates ownership of the land from ownership of the house on it. Homes never sell on the open market, and Zuevskaya said "that money... stays with that home upon every resale," so every future buyer pays an affordable mortgage. The trust prioritizes historically Black neighborhoods hit by urban renewal, including Burton Street, where it recently purchased a home that had been in foreclosure for six to nine months after the husband in the household passed away and his widow fell behind.

Beth Silverman's Lotus Campaign takes the opposite entry point: private capital, kept honest by an eviction rate under 1% built on partnerships with social service organizations. Its proof point is a $17 million multifamily deal in Charlotte, where Lotus and partners invested $300,000 and set aside 20% of units for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness. Seven years later the property recapitalized at roughly two and a half to three times the original investment.

Questions

What is the biggest misconception about affordable housing? Ross Hamilton said people mistake it for charity when it functions as infrastructure, since the workforce a town depends on has to afford to live in it. Anna Zuevskaya added that affordable homes get assumed to be low quality because they are built cheaply, which her land trust pushes back against since buyers carry a mortgage just like anyone else.
Can investor returns and long-term affordability coexist? Beth Silverman answered yes, pointing to Lotus Campaign's Charlotte deal, which delivered investor returns while reserving 20% of units for people at risk of homelessness. Zuevskaya said her land trust works differently, relying on grants and donations to cover the gap between market and affordable price.
Is there a way to be proactive on housing rather than reactive? Silverman said the answer is both: unresolved problems today just become more expensive later, and there is real money to be made in affordable housing for anyone paying attention. Zuevskaya admitted the sector always feels behind, but said reaching 300 to 500 properties would let her land trust's model create lasting affordability since those homes never resell at market rate.
An attendee, not asking a question but making a statement, argued that solving affordable housing needs public involvement and a risk-mitigated investment vehicle. Responding to that comment, Zuevskaya noted Asheville passed a $20 million housing bond the prior year, calling $20 million next to nothing given how understaffed the city is. Her trust is advocating that a real share go toward homeownership, since the city's tools have mostly focused on rental units.
Is making housing financially attractive to investors the only way to solve this? Ross Hamilton said the more financially attractive the problem is, the faster it gets solved. A co-host running the Q&A argued it may take real pain reaching wealthier households first, and Hamilton added that the next generation already feels locked out of homeownership.

Ross Hamilton's forecast for Asheville's housing future, if the region gets it right, was something that scales; he said he didn't have the one word, but called the model "replicatable." The episode then closes with a plug for the Ruiz Report and REMC.co for market training and live MLS data and analytics dashboards.