INEQUITY REVEALED

HOMEOWNERSHIP AND HEALTHY LIVING GAPS ONCE IDENTIFIED BY ANECDOTAL EVIDENCE PROVEN THROUGH FINE-GRADE DATA

In response to the protests of 2020 following the high-profile police-involved murder of George Floyd and in acknowledgement of the wealth-robbing impact of redlining, the City of Asheville and Buncombe County adopted reparations ordinances. 

Though one dedicated hundreds of thousand of dollars to addressing inequity, Joseph Minicozzi, AICP is the principal of Urban3, found the county’s basic tax assessing methodology was widening disparity.

His research found Buncombe was over taxing the poor by at least $1.5 million and under taxing the rich by $4 million each year – producing at least $5.5 million in annual inequity.