WE'LL MAKE IT HOME TOGETHER™

October 2026

We are so grateful for this year's BUILDING HOPE: An Evening for Affordable Housing at Highland Brewing Company on Thursday, October 15th.

Attendees heard powerful stories of hope, healing, and resilience, and how your support builds homes, neighborhoods, and thriving communities. Stories like those from Melanie, Ruby, Stephanie, Greg, and Shelby are a testament to the power of home and building hope!

This year, we were proud to introduce the BUILDING HOPE Award, created to honor a person or organization that truly embodies MHO’s mission of building hope and dignity in the people we serve. Our very first recipient was MHO board member and true community champion, Charlie Owen.

Since joining the board in 2019, Charlie has been a driving force behind MHO’s growth, from pursuing new capital sources and strengthening our governance to guiding us through the retirement of historic MHO leadership. After Tropical Storm Helene, he worked tirelessly to meet urgent community needs while keeping us focused on long-term recovery.

Please join us in celebrating Charlie and thanking him for his years of leadership, dedication, and the hope he continues to build in our community!

As we reflect on Geoffrey’s words from the evening, the three lessons he shared stand out. First, hope cannot be built in solitude. Everyone who supports affordable housing plays a vital role in building it, and we were grateful to share how your support has made our community better.

Second, hope is all around us. High interest rates, rising material costs, regulatory complexity, and shifting federal priorities have created a perfect storm that makes building and preserving affordable homes harder than ever. Yet in times like these, we’ve found hope in plentiful supply.

Finally, and perhaps most powerfully, hope lives within each of us. We saw it in the stories shared by residents, homeowners, and supporters alike. Each story you heard was a reminder that hope isn’t something we wait to receive. It’s something we carry, nurture, and pass on to one another. The hope we hold and the hope we build are the same, and together they form the foundation of the community we're building together.

THANK YOU to our 2026 sponsors and event partners, who made BUILDING HOPE possible! A special shout-out to Highland Brewing Company for hosting us, 67 Biltmore for providing some amazing food, The Hop Handcrafted Ice Cream for a delicious sweet treat, DJ Molly Parti for the tunes, and Silver Moon Photography for capturing the evening!

When Dogwood Health Trust made its first grant to MHO in 2020, it funded the strategic plan that would guide our growth for the next five years and started a partnership that has helped reshape affordable housing development across western North Carolina.

Since then, Dogwood has invested nearly $25 million in MHO’s mission through grants, impact lending, and a new $8.5 million Program-Related Investment.

That support has helped preserve 80 units of supportive housing, move new communities like Star Point Apartments, Lakeshore Villas, and Balsam Edge from blueprint to construction, and kept more than 1,100 households in their homes after Tropical Storm Helene. In our 2025 Annual Report, we look back on six years of working together and what it has meant for our neighbors and our region.

At MHO, we build and preserve homes that local families can afford, and we’ve seen firsthand how bond funding makes this possible in Asheville, Woodfin, Weaverville, and East Asheville, including homes just for lower-income seniors. That’s why we have endorsed both the Affordable Housing Bond and the Open Space Conservation Bond on the November ballot!

The Affordable Housing Bond keeps this work going, and the Open Space Bond protects our drinking water and creates parks for all to enjoy. Strong communities need both affordable homes and green space to recreate!

Past bond investments prove this works. In 2022, MHO leveraged $3.6 million from Buncombe’s Housing Bond to build Lakeshore Villas, an attractive, affordable community for 120 families, which fully opened in July 2026.

The 2022 bonds also:

• Helped fund 969 affordable homes for seniors and working families, bringing in $7 of outside funding for every $1 of bond money
• Paid for home repairs, including damage from Tropical Storm Helene
• Conserved 2,600 acres of forests, farms, and natural areas
• Started 584 acres of new parks and 24 new trails and greenways

The new bonds will help local people afford to stay here while protecting our water, farms, and forests. A citizens’ oversight committee will track every dollar, and together the two bonds cost the average homeowner about 83 cents a week.

Early voting is underway through October 31. Election Day is November 3. Make a plan to get out and vote!

Mountain Housing Opportunities (MHO) invites you to celebrate the completion and ribbon-cutting of Lakeshore Villas on Heywood Shores Drive in Arden on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm! Lakeshore Villas opened fully in August 2026 and serves 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom households for renters earning up to 60% of the area’s median income. 

Click the link below to register - this is a no-cost event! Please RSVP by Monday, November 16th! 

The program begins promptly at 2:30 pm. The event will be held outside, rain or shine, so please dress for the weather. Light refreshments will be served. Questions? Contact Allison Rollison at allison.rollison@mtnhousing.org or at 828-254-4030 ext 136. 

LEARN MORE ABOUT MHO'S AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAMS

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