Strategic Housing Plan

Affordable Housing Summit

The future of affordable housing in Henderson County took center stage on Thursday, May 16, 2024, as the community gathered for the City of Hendersonville’s Affordable Housing Summit. 

SUBMIT YOUR AFFORDABLE HOUSING QUESTIONS!

Affordable Housing Summit Panelists

Featured Speaker – Shane Phillips 
Featured speaker Shane Phillips is a researcher, public speaker, and consultant on housing policy and affordability. He manages the Housing Initiative within the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, focusing on research, policy analysis, and education, and he co-hosts the UCLA Housing Voice Podcast, a biweekly interview show that translates emerging research for a non-academic audience. He’s the author of The Affordable City, published in 2020, which advocates for a three-pronged approach to solving the housing crisis — Supply, Stability, and Subsidies — and offers more than 50 recommendations for advancing those priorities. Outside of his role at UCLA, Shane has presented to audiences across the U.S. and abroad, written for major publications including the Los Angeles Times and Atlantic, taught at the University of Southern California, and worked with local governments and organizations to identify context-specific solutions to their housing challenges. Originally hailing from Seattle, he earned his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from the University of Washington and masters degrees in public administration and urban planning from USC.

Dogwood Trust – Sarah Grymes 
Sarah Grymes serves as Vice President of Housing with the Dogwood Health Trust. As an experienced housing development expert with a strong financial background, she joined Dogwood’s Community Investment Team in early January 2021 after previously serving as the Executive Director of the Housing Assistance Corporation in Hendersonville.  

Development Finance Initiative – Sarah Odio 
Sarah Odio joined DFI in 2016 as a graduate fellow while pursuing a master's degree in city & Regional Planning at UNC Chapel Hill. Now, as an Assistant Director, Odio specializes in affordable housing, and has helped urban and rural communities across NC understand their housing needs and attract private investment to mixed-use and mixed-income developments. She also oversees projects that range from commercial adaptive reuse to neighborhood revitalization. 

City of Hendersonville – Lew Holloway 
Lew Holloway is the Community Development Director for the City of Hendersonville, overseeing the Planning, Code Enforcement and Downtown Development for the City. Trained as a Landscape Architect with a background in Urban Design, Lew has worked in both the public and private sectors, including with the North Carolina Main Street Center. 

Henderson County – Chris Todd  
Christopher Todd is the Business and Community Development Director for Henderson County.  In this role, he oversees all land use regulatory departments for the county.  Previously Mr. Todd was the Town Manager of the Town of Laurel Park and the Town of Sawmills. 

Strategic Housing Plan Steering Committee

Affordable housing and the development of a strategic housing plan is a priority for the Hendersonville City Council. City Council appointed a Strategic Housing Plan Steering Committee to guide the plan development process.

Regular Meetings of the City of Hendersonville Strategic Housing Plan Steering Committee are held Monthly on the third Monday of each month at 4:00 p.m. in the City Operations Assembly Room located at 305 Williams Street, Hendersonville NC. Visit the city's event calendar for details and zoom login information.

We appreciate these community leaders for serving on the committee!

Sarah Cosgrove
Robert Hooper
Jennifer Duvall
Hilary Paradise
Madeline Offen
Debi Smith
Connie Stewart
Carsten Erkel

Visit the agenda portal for meeting agendas and minutes

Resources

View the NC Housing Coalition Statistics for Henderson County