Asheville, Buncombe CoC adopts strategic plan to address homelessness
ASHEVILLE – A new strategic plan will guide the work of the area’s Continuum of Care for the next three years, the body responsible for developing and overseeing the community’s response to homelessness.
Board Chair Melina Arrowood called the plan’s June 12 adoption a “critical milestone:” a high-level, long-term strategic vision of “how we’re going to actually do the work.”
There are four main objectives:
- Decrease unsheltered homelessness.
- Increase exits from homelessness to permanent housing.
- Coordinate and expand homelessness prevention, diversion and rapid rehousing.
- Build housing-focused system capacity.
It is the first such plan for the new Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care, which was reestablished following 2023 recommendations by the Washington, D.C.-based National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Restructuring was the Alliance’s No. 1 recommendation. The process moved the board out from under city and county government and created a formalized membership base.
The new board first met in May 2024. It includes representatives from various homeless services organizations, local government, public housing, people with lived experience and shelter providers.
In a year, the CoC has grown to 452 members. Of these, 77 have served as elected or appointed board, committee or work group members.
“We’ve spent the past year building this framework and foundation so that the CoC is ready to take collective action, and the strategic plan maps out what that collective action should be,” said Emily Ball, the city’s homeless strategy division manager. The city serves as the CoC lead agency.
What is a CoC?
A Continuum of Care is a federal framework that establishes a local planning body responsible for coordinating a system of housing and services for people experiencing homelessness. It is also responsible for overseeing U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funding for homelessness and the point in time count, an annual census of the area’s unhoused population.
It does not provide direct services, like rental assistance or shelter, nor provide direct funding to service providers.
What’s in the plan?
In the 10-page plan, every objective is broken into three strategies, each with a series of actions within. Implementation will begin in July.
While the strategic plan spans three years, an annual action plan will be developed for each year.
“This isn’t something that sits on a shelf and get dusty, it’s something that we are constantly working on,” Arrowood said.
Of how this work differs from the Alliance’s report — which included 30 multiprong recommendations and several short-term priorities — Ball said the plan builds on the recommendations, but allows the CoC to set its own path.
She said meaningful progress is being made, with much of the last year spent establishing the foundation. Tropical Storm Helene also created challenges — both in slowing the strategic planning process, and changing the “scale” of homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County.
The January point in time count found that of those experiencing unsheltered homelessness, more than a third said it was due to Helene.
“I think what’s really tangibly changed from a year ago is that people are much more informed and … key stakeholders having more open dialogue at a common table than we’ve ever had before,” Ball said.
“Now that we have that foundation, we are ready to take more direct action and the strategic plan tells us what that should be.”
What does homelessness look like in Asheville?
The year’s census data released in March, tallied 755 people experiencing homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County. Of that total, more than half were in shelter or transitional housing, but 328 people were unsheltered — a 50% increase from the year before.
It was a slight increase in total numbers, up from 739 the year before, and is the second year since the count used a new methodology that includes an expanded footprint, which the city said resulted in higher numbers than prior years.
The more than 700 people found to be experiencing homelessness does not include the 1,548 people in FEMA’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program at the time of the count as a result of Helene, though the total of those two numbers will be reported to HUD.
Nationwide, homelessness reached a new record high in 2024, according to an annual federal report by HUD, released Dec. 27. The report found more than 770,000 people across the country were experiencing homelessness on a single night, an 18% increase from 2023.
Get involved
The CoC board meets monthly, alternating virtual and in-person at the Harrah’s Cherokee Center in downtown Asheville. The next meeting is July 10, virtually.
The membership also typically meets monthly, in person.
Learn more: ashevillenc.gov/projects/asheville-buncombe-continuum-of-care/
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.
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