We are worried that Asheville residents will lose their housing during the coronavirus outbreak.

Asheville's tourism-based economy is not resilient enough to bear the massive economic disruptions coming our way. We foresee the potential for mass evictions from rental housing, and waves of foreclosures in the future.

Thousands of our residents are financially burdened by housing under the best of circumstances, and we must take action to help our community in this time of crisis. No one should have to choose between housing and their health. The fragility of the tourism industry will leave many workers without the prospect of income or the ability to work from home. The Bowen Report on housing provides ample evidence that even a brief period of lost income will have catastrophic effects on the working people of our region.

We maintain that NOW is the time to deal with this issue. Many of the people signing this will have already felt the effects of lost shifts, vanishing prospects, and sleepless nights of financial stress. Our leaders have the opportunity to lead on this issue and we implore them to be pro-active in dealing with this looming crisis, rather than face the human cost of their inaction.

With this knowledge in hand, we are asking the leadership of Buncombe County and the City of Asheville, (Chair Brownie Newman, Mayor Esther Manheimer, Sheriff Quentin Miller) to HALT foreclosures and evictions of tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic.