ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Two Asheville housing nonprofits have teamed up with a big goal in mind – building four house frames in four days. 

What You Need To Know

  • BeLoved Asheville and Asheville Home Builders Association have challenged members and the community to build four house frames in four days 

  • The houses will be a part of BeLoved Village – a community of 12 microhomes for people struggling with housing insecurity

  • BeLoved Village is one of 100 grant recipients across the country chosen by Lowe's Nationwide Hometown Impact Program

BeLoved Asheville and Asheville Home Builders Association are working on the houses that will be part of BeLoved Village, a community of 12 microhomes that will help people struggling with housing insecurity. 

BeLoved Village is one of 100 grant recipients across the country chosen by Lowe's Nationwide Hometown Impact Program.

“We’re going to try to get all of our walls up today,” president of Modern Mountain Builders Max Deholl said.

The hope is to get them framed by Labor Day.

A team from Modern Mountain Builders was ready to participate in the building on Day 1, including project manager Austin Whyatt. 

“You leave most days accomplished,” Whyatt said. “You can actually see the value in what you did today in that there’s something there that wasn’t there before. So it’s just a phenomenal feeling. I think once I got a little taste of it, I've been chasing it ever since.”

He has built over 15 homes, but he’s never been a part of an affordable housing project. 

“We’re building something that’s going to last in the community, that’s going to give back to the community for the next foreseeable four, five, six decades,” Whyatt said.

According to a National Alliance to End Homelessness report, Asheville is 98% more expensive than other North Carolina cities and is in an affordable housing crisis.

BeLoved Asheville co-director Ponkho Bermejo said building this village is a step closer to where they want to be. 

“It’s going to be for different types of people – workers, families, veterans, people that live in the streets, people that don’t have the opportunity,” Bermejo said. “So we are creating the opportunity.”

As the structures come together, so does the community, approaching the remainder of the "Blitz Build." 

“It’s a good feeling knowing that every time I drive by here I'm going to go, ‘Wow, I contributed to people being able to afford homes and shelter themselves,’” Whyatt said. “It’ll be super satisfying.”

“The dream is 400 houses every year,” Bermejo said. “We have the power here in our community. We have the workers that work very hard. This is even better than working for profit, this is work for the common good of the community.”