The Asheville Citizen-Times is exploring Asheville’s affordable housing crisis. Some reasons people think the problem persists are housing prices outpacing wages, the inability of the private sector to build it at a profit, and the lack of rent controls. Methods of controlling rent currently under consideration by study groups include capping appreciation or separating land from improvements made thereon, and availing properties exclusively to low-income people. The consultant hired by the City of Asheville, you may recall, wants to raise taxes to cover the rent controls.