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ASHEVILLE - The city and its metro region have the highest cost of living in the state but income well below the national average, a combination that is squeezing local residents and that now could grow worse, according to experts and activists.
A recent analysis of economic data by the Citizen Times showed how the four-county Asheville metropolitan area became the most expensive place in North Carolina. Meanwhile, per capita income is only 84% of the national average.
An expanded analysis now shows how that price and income gap have persisted for 30 years and could soon grow to one of its worst levels, depending on wages, general inflation and specifically housing prices, according to local and national experts.
When Bruce Waller left Marietta, Georgia, in 2012 as a young man, he knew it would be hard to put together a job and a place to live but he wasn t ready for Asheville s version of hard.
In Marietta, he had been training with the Army National Guard, and housing was covered. Before, when he lived in Richmond, Virginia, he paid $500 for rent and utilities, for a whole house he shared with friends.
In Asheville, Waller also paid $500, but it was for an apartment shared with two friends. Water and utilities were not included. It was ridiculous for what we paid in rent, he said. We didn t control the heat, the floors were wood and not insulated.
Juanita Wilson / Buncombe County Special Collections, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC
Six months ago, as part of a reckoning on racial injustice, the City of Asheville and Buncombe County both passed resolutions to consider reparations to the Black community as a way to begin making amends for slavery and generations of systemic discrimination.
The votes were hailed as “historic” by The Asheville Citizen Times, and ABC News asked, “Is Asheville a national model?”
Since then, local officials concede, little has been done. Some in the Black community see zero progress.
“From my understanding, they’ve done nothing,” said Rob Thomas, community liaison for the Racial Justice Coalition.