An Asheville for the rest of us
Skyline of downtown Asheville, looking toward the Flat Iron building. Photo by Max Cooper.
By David Forbes
The doldrums are over. “Real estate rebound in Asheville, N.C.” blared a recent headline from the Wall Street Journal.
It’s the latest in a long, long line of major media outlets to refresh themselves on the continued fact of our fair city’s existence; or “hip Asheville’s strengthening destination market” in their words. This particular piece pivoted on the McNabb couple (Darlene and John) one of those fortunate wealthy families who have hit that magic point where life becomes a calculus instead of a fight.
Apparently, while enjoying their $2.8 million Biltmore Forest home for a few months a year, they’re just one example of the well-heeled flocking to Asheville (or nearby, at least) now that the woes of the economy are shaking themselves off (and for many of their ilk, never hit at all). They’re paying in cash for homes to use a few months a year, or to sit vacant until they can sell them at a higher price later. Homes over $500,000 — still a huge price even in our inflated market — are going like hotcakes.. It’s driving up housing costs in many parts of the country, especially “destination” spots like our city, and leaving first-time home-buyers in a much tougher spot.
Around the same time as WSJ recounted the McNabbs’ odyssey, new population figures came out, showing that the Asheville area had steady, moderate growth since the 2010 census. Combined with the news that building permit numbers are at their highest level since 2008, it seems like the good times come again.
Not so fast. Keeping in mind the limits of one’s personal experience, there’s another story I’d like to add, more important than the McNabbs finding their palace. I’ve lived here for almost a decade, moving to Asheville just in time to remember the last era where affordable housing was doable, if tricky. In that time, I’ve known plenty of people that have moved in and out, usually here and there. Sometimes, this is part of the natural ebb and flow of any city.
Yet in the last month alone, I’ve known about ten talented people — from drastically different backgrounds, some natives, some with deep roots in the area — who are packing up and heading elsewhere. They’re searching for a place with better jobs, higher pay, more opportunity and less segregation.
The numbers on this won’t show up for awhile; this is happening just at that point where experience lingers ahead of statistics.
Forget the McNabbs. The rich are a dime a dozen, and fickle besides. That level of resources at one’s disposal generally encourages capriciouness. They’ll shift to another place, another home at the first scent of a hard wind or a different whim, because they can. This is, in the end, just another resort to them.
We can spare the occasional summer millionaire far more than we can spare a talented artist, a future reformer, a determined activist, a skilled maker, a potential founder. That’s Asheville’s hope, the people who believe in the city’s potential to be something better, who would make a home here if they could afford a decent place, food, savings and some say in the city’s future. They’ll fight. The McNabbs won’t.
But instead of a shot, even if a hard one, the future of Asheville comes home in the wee hours of the morning from a third job with nothing but a pittance in pay and an aching back. One day, it gets a bit much. Maybe they’ll glance at their sleeping kid. Maybe they’ll just collapse into the kitchen chair, voicing four words I’ve heard with increasing frequency in recent years.
“Fuck it, I’m moving.”
So they’ll leave. It won’t make headlines. Their departure won’t show up in the annual reports, because there’s no easy metric for lost opportunity.
The tragedy will lie in what isn’t done, isn’t made, isn’t built, in problems unfought and unsolved until too late.
For what it’s worth I personally know numerous people the above has happened to. The vast majority are cases of frustration — not planned life changes or lucky opportunities.
But in case you want something more measurable, here’s what we do have numbers for: the wages in Asheville and its surroundings are about $400 a month below the state average. That means that the average worker in North Carolina has $400 more to tackle their bills than the workers here. Despite an unusually high level of education, a third of Buncombe’s residents are low-income. Last year, Asheville saw a sharp rise in the numbers of young homeless.
Somehow, even other cities in our state have managed the trick of paying their workforce something above medieval levels. Somehow, they’ve also done so without making lists as one of the most unaffordable areas in the country.
Too often the seriousness of these issues isn’t appreciated, even locally, batted away with warnings to “focus on the positive” or dismissals of “that’s just how it goes here.”
But accomplishments, even real ones, don’t make problems go away; a house won’t stop burning because the porch is beautiful.
And the time comes when “that’s the way it is” is a route to disaster, when survival requires change that’s not universally comfortable or flattering. The worst issues Asheville’s people face aren’t yielding, and they threaten to undermine the future of the whole area. Cities that don’t tackle those end up footnotes or cautionary tales.
The migrating wealthy can find another palace if they wish; and the second the wind changes, they probably will. But this is not their home. It’s far past time to ask what a functioning city for the rest of us actually looks like.
Email questions or comments to ashevilleblade at gmail. If you like our work, support the Asheville Blade directly on Patreon.
The Author
26 Comments
Although I agree that housing is becoming unaffordable for the average person because of a lack of jobs and jobs that offer a living wage, wealthy people moving here will give a boost to the economy. I’ve noticed the wealthy people who move here are not moving here because of their job. They just happen to be wealthy from where ever it is they’re from. I would like to see Asheville, and Western North Carolina as a whole work together to bring more high paying jobs to this area. The sub 500k housing market is a sellers market due a lack of inventory. Some houses are on the market for a few days, and it usually ends in a bidding war.
I appreciate your honest look at Asheville. Many choose to ignore the problems and live in a delusional bubble that it’s such an awesome place. I lived there for 13 years. In 2012 I was laid off and could not find any acceptable careers in my field (tech industry) there. I looked out of state and a few months later was offered a job in San Francisco. I left. Sure, SF is crazy expensive, but I’m lucky to have a great compensation package, and I’m in a place of more opportunity. Just like you, I know many talented people, ex-co-workers and colleagues, who left Asheville because they couldn’t get a good job or enough freelance work. As far as I know (via Facebook), they are now thriving.
I laugh at people who point to the new hotels, Trader Joe’s, and Harris Teeter and exclaim that Asheville is progressing. These businesses perpetuate the low-wage lifestyle too familiar to people there. The hotels foster the tourism industry, which creates more low-paying jobs and makes the economy too season-dependent. It attracts the wealthy who decide to buy overpriced homes after spending a vacation there, inflating the cost of living for everyone else (as you pointed out). The housing market in Charlotte is on par with Asheville’s, yet the wages in Charlotte are about double. Some Charlotte people buy condos in Asheville and party there on weekends.
The realities sicken me, and I will never go back. I have other gripes about Asheville, but this is a big part of it. In my experience most people say they love it there because of the mountains. That’s it. It’s silly, because there are lots of scenic places to live where you can do more than just bag groceries at Greenlife. Asheville has such a low ceiling of opportunity, but the Chamber of Commerce doesn’t care. Best of luck before all the good folks are driven out.
So well said. I could not agree with you more!!! I’m on my way too.
Standing ovation, David. They must still be having that sale on Louis Vuitton carpetbags.
I said the same thing, fuck it, Im moving. And so off I go, to Kentucky and a better less segregated life for me and my son. I have lived here most of my life. I have seen first hand what it means to be poor in a city that thrives on the rich. I am bound to make my own life and own future, but I know it will not be here in Asheville.
Greg Brown’s song, “Boomtown”. Iris Dement’s “Our Town”.
It isn’t as if the City government hasn’t been doing a great deal to encourage development and preservation of affordable housing. According to a recent study by UNC Chapel Hill, Over the past several years, the City has helped to fund more affordable housing than ANY OTHER city in the state, not per capita, but in actual total units built. Much of the funding is pass-through Federal money, but the City’s affordable housing trust fund (a revolving loan program) has been funded year after year via local tax dollars.
The City government has extremely limited ability to affect wages, and what little power we had was substantially undercut by the GOP in Raleigh last year, when they banned all municipalities from including wage requirements on government contracts. (Asheville is a “living wage certified” employer, and we had enacted rules that City contractors had to pay a living wage as well. Republicans killed that one.)
One area where I believe we could help reduce costs concerns parking. Currently we require a certain number of parking spaces on multi-family developments. Within the City that often requires construction of parking garages or substantial surface parking on expensive land. With many young folks and urban folks now eschewing car ownership, it seems to me that we could permit apartments/condos with less parking if their leases/sales included no-vehicle-ownership clauses.
Nice article. If you need a cartoon to go with it, you can use this one: http://bit.ly/1n57hJW
Ive been living and working in the Asheville area since 2005. Landed here with 20 bucks to spare. The fact that Im still here should say something. To me this says that it wasn’t a checkbook that won me a position in a spectacular place with fantastic people; what kept me here was a deep level of determination, blessed health, and a better than average attitude. And now I am the proud owner of some of the finest memories and friendships. Priceless things. What I have learned in this brief time here in Asheville is that people who hold true residency here are starkly undervalued. And though I know many financially blessed residents, there is a real need for humanity to recognize the equity that exists by those of us who actually reside here. It’s a travesty that humans are riding on the backs of others like this. Asheville property equity has gone up due to the beautiful nature of thousands of folks who live here paycheck to paycheck. Its rather archaic how someone can discover Asheville in the NYT and then proceed to profit on it sight unseen; if you know whatmean.
Great piece. The uneven ratio of wages to cost of living in Asheville is a very real day-to-day struggle for a lot of people there. Along with that, Asheville has been getting rid of the interesting events and overall street personality that made it unique, and there has been a stark increase in crime with very little response to it from the city.
After living in Asheville for over ten years, my fiance and I both decided we had had enough, and up and moved to Savannah, GA a couple months ago. The more we explore here in Savannah, more the more we realize it’s exactly what Asheville could have been if the city ever really cared about the state of its citizens. Things are vibrant, interesting, history is preserved here, there’s always something going on (and it’s usually sanctioned by the city), there are public bike shares, real public transportation (including free buses and ferries around downtown), and programs that actually work to make it a nice place for the people who live here. And it’s actually affordable – we were able to buy our dream house here, and we’re both 29 years old.
I hope things turn around for Asheville, but we’re not willing to stick around long enough to see it happen.
My husband and I are natives and both in our early 50’s. We have witnessed what it was and the transition to what it is. As usual transplants have come in and changed the community I once believed in. They have taken advantage of a weak community spine and have manipulated our city into what they missed from where they once lived. Downtown is nothing like the true Asheville. You will rarely if ever find a native in downtown. It’s time to listen to the true Asheville natives. Quit filling our city positions with people who know nothing of our true native culture. Quit handing off high paying jobs to non-qualified candidates just because you believe there is no way a native could qualify or do the job correctly. Natives are your best asset.
Yes we are over it but our roots are here and have been since the 1600’s. We have literally been paying to live here and we battle everyday to be heard and hopefully reclaim all that was lost.
If you’ve been here since the 1600’s, then you truly are a Native, as in Native American Cherokee. If not, then you were here illegally. Please don’t exaggerate how long your people have been here.
I’m not a native of Asheville, but am from not all that far away in a town in northeast GA. I am not sure what native culture Asheville lost by the influx of transplants. Is it the closed businesses, boarded up that I used to see back in the ’90’s? Downtown Asheville was depressing back then.
I do wish you would be more specific in your complaints.
Great article!
I feel that this is less of an Asheville problem and more of a US problem….. Asheville, like any scenic “paradise” is simply a draw for the wealthy and retired. Folks in Charleston and St Augustine and Savannah and Boulder etc, etc .. even Portland, OR …all have the same gripe to one degree or another.
What makes Asheville stand out is that it identifies itself with the young and artistic and outdoorsy and alternative crowds. In a sea of conservative southern-ness, it is a progressive paradise. But unlike its cousins: Athens, Charlottesville and Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh, it doesn’t boast a giant student population which (besides creating its own economy) provides a constant replenishment of young/progressive/alternative/artists whose only requirement is a part time job for beer money.
In this way (and in many other ways) Asheville is really no different than Highlands, Brevard, Black Mountain and Cashiers, just bigger and a little bit more confused about its identity….and sustainability.
I love it here, but I am always acutely aware of the sacrifice that I am making to do so.
People are buying land and homes around here because it’s higher ground and it is the smart thing to invest in instead of beach front. Seriously. Asheville is a beautiful place. I’ve watched it grow and change since 1986. It’s way more fun than ever but no one should expect Asheville to have the same kind of job opportunities that Charlotte might because there isn’t as big a pool of people here. I’m always quick to tell folks to bring a job unless they work in the medical or hospitality industry. Asheville’s Appalachian history must play a part in overall lower wages but I’m not real clear why it lingers in our modern age. Attracting new industries, reexamining our collective assets and demanding better pay should be our leaderships game plan.
Much needed commentary on this issue. What saddens me is that whenever this discussion comes up, the answer almost always seems to be that we should build more affordable housing (looking at you, Cecil). What about all the housing that is already here that is vastly over-valued and under-occupied? There are 5.28 vacant homes for every homeless person in the U.S. (http://crooksandliars.com/…/35-million-homeless-and-185…), so is building more really the ideal solution? I’d humbly suggest what we need is some folks with investigative experience to poke around and see just what is driving the price of rent through the roof throughout the city and county when there’s no real objective reason for it (by which I mean the increase in rent and housing prices has far outpaced the slight increase in demand). The city might do well to consider that people who are spending less money on rent will be spending that savings in the local economy or investing it in improving their own personal equity, which does have long-term benefits for the city’s tax base.
Really, people, it’s time to stop thinking only of growth or development as solutions to our problems. People who call themselves “progressives” should really know better by now.
Anyone who comes here enthralled by the “event” of the place, is potentially going to be disappointed. Historically, young people in the mountains had to continue the family business or they wound up leaving and then coming back after they saved up some money. Those of us with the mountains running through our DNA, always come back.
We are fortunate in this part of Appalachia that they didn’t find coal in our mountains. That saved us from being a coal economy with true poverty. Tourism started long ago and our spirit of hospitality has nurtured that along with our natural resources. I am sorry people have struggled here, but this area has never been for the faint of heart. I am native, 200 to 300 years on both sides of my family. We ain’t leaving. I know very few long timers, who have moved away for long. Here, you have to have the entrepreneur spirit and a dogged determination to live the way you want to live. And that is what will keep the Asheville area creative, only some of those who move here, will stay.
Spot on- I lived in Asheville from 1989 to 2004, I saw it becoming a city of haves and have nots, with no middle class and moved away. I miss the mountains but the few times I have returned to the Asheville, I am sad at what the city has become – a collection of bars, restaurants and boutiques catering to the rich. Real estate investors came in, took advantage of the elderly and minorities, forced them out and resold to “trust fund babies” paying cash for bungalows originally built to house the middle class. In the early 1900’s the rich came to Asheville, made their money and moved on when when the markets collapsed. History repeats itself.
Good article. But if you think things are so bad in Asheville look at the rest of WNC! There are lots of low paying jobs, and employers of middle class folks know people will work for less just to be in Asheville. Asheville has always been built for the rich and tourists, and the dreamers and artists have ride on the coat tails. Do not forget Southern Appalachia has been an impoverished region for most of its history. And NC being the most anti-union state in the country has certainly not helped working folks prosper!
After living in Asheville/Black Mountain for 20 years, my boyfriend and I moved to West Virginia because we were tired of living hand to mouth. It was nearly impossible to get ahead and save. Very frustrating, as Asheville was my home and I miss it terribly. But as we get older we need to plan for the future. And the future wasn’t there.
Well written- Not to mention the how Asheville area natives have been pushed out due to rising taxes and land developers. My family lived on a small farm that was in our family for years until a developer came in and taxes rose to an unacceptable amount. We sold out- Developers tore down the farm and tried to develop it only to file Bankruptcy and fail. Now taxes are higher the land is raped and luckily we were able to relocate the farm to another county in Western NC that doesn’t charge as much in taxes.
So much of this is a US problem and not necessarily just an Asheville problem. A person writes in the comments above that they are moving to West Virginia. Well, go ask the typical person in West Virginia what they think about the state. It’s the only state in the nation that is actually losing population.
While everyone points to wages as being a challenge here, the one thing I never see our elected leaders doing anything about is making it less expensive to live here. That’s the side of the equation that can be addressed, and rarely ever is.
I grew up in AVL in the 50s and 60s, moved around a bit in the 70s, but left AVL in 1982 and then NC in 1985.
We live in Biltmore Forest in the 50s and 60s and my parents sold their house there in 1971. They bought it for something like 25K. They sold it 17 years later for +/- 36K. A couple years later, the house sold for $150,000. By the 1990s, it sold for more than double that.
Crazy.
It was crazy to see how real estate prices there, and I guess across the nation, changed so drastically. Our house didn’t go through any significant changes to cause an increase in value and the people who bought it for 350 K really screwed up the beautiful landscaping my parents did themselves and was greatly admire in that community and throughout AVL.
I don’t know about the job situation currently in AVL, but in areas where tourism is so predominant, wages will be low. There used to be factories in Asheville; I know, we owned a couple. There used to be a Ball glass factory in South Buncombe, next to a Gerber baby food plant. Gerber sat on the former Phelps Farm, which produced wool that was spun into beautiful wool garments and they also produced leather goods. I’m trying to think what is there now in that area. . .junky stores?
I loved growing up in Asheville but just don’t enjoy going back. Paradise was torn down for some parking lots, to paraphrase Joni Mitchell. But that same kind of change is prevalent in all the areas I have lived. Low wages, expensive housing.
In AVL, in the U.S., there used to be a good balance between wages and housing. But then, someone overpaid for a property and the bandwagon rolled through and everyone jumped aboard. Dollar signs sparkled in people’s eyes and they were blinded by the light of greed, not realizing what throwing all that money around would do to the balance of things. No one said NO to the ridiculously inflated prices. So, today, we suffer for it.
Fortunately, my husband and I were able to find some acreage in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia 20+ years ago that had just dropped in price. Otherwise, we’d never be able to afford a home to retire to [his job requires that we move around a lot]. Right after we bought the land for 2K an acre, it doubled, and five years later had gone up to 15K an acre, but has since dropped in value. Fortunately, the taxes are low.
I have given much thought to a solution to the problems mentioned in the article and I don’t know how the balance can be restored, except by those individuals who create for themselves a comfortable world. What I mean by that is this: our retirement home will have us not paying utilities, our taxes will be low as we’ve a small house, and we’ll produce the majority of our own food. We are healthy and are very intentional in how we eat and live healthy.
Not everyone is able to do this, but we started thinking about retirement in our early 30s and have prepared for it all along the way. We’re not rich, but we are happy. For us, happiness is our riches.
Pax.
Thanks for writing this. Increasingly I feel invisible as a working person in this town.
Thanks, David, for yet another well-written and well-aimed spotlight.
You remarked “…a house won’t stop burning because the porch is beautiful.” For me, that’s spot on. I design and build heirloom furniture, and yet my house(s) has been burning since 1999, when I moved here. All the rhetoric hasn’t quenched the fire, and I’m still financially poor.
When Cecil mentions ‘parking issues’ as a Holy Grail, I have to wonder who’s worrying about a spot for their car when their garage at home is reduced to ashes.
I am not a NC native, but, I did marry one. I have lived here 30+ years years now and have seen many of the changes in this article and the responses, Most significant the change from industry to tourism philosophy. Some 20 years ago I got a job in Asheville and my wife and I decided to relocate closer to my work, After searching the housing market in the Asheville area we decided to stay on the eastern side of Old Fort Mt. Everything, and I mean everything seems to be less expensive herre. We bought in Marion, NC. Got a nice house, with acreage, lower taxes , friendlier people, good neighbors, ( that we actually know and talk to) and community pride. And, we’re close enough to enjoy Asheville without the expense of saying I live there.