The City of Asheville, Buncombe County, and other local stakeholders plan to overhaul their current approach to solving homelessness. A new structure proposed Monday focused primarily on restructuring the Continuum of Care (CoC), a federal program and funding arm to build and oversee a coordinated response to homelessness.
The city and county public joint meeting, which took place on December 4, focused on a set of recommendations first presented 10 months ago. A report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness (NAEH) outlined more than 110 recommendations for how the Asheville area could improve its efforts to end homelessness in the area.
The city voted unanimously to implement all of the recommendations from the study, a $72,974 endeavor funded by Dogwood Health Trust and commissioned by Asheville City Council in May 2022.
“One of the things that precipitated the decision to engage with the National Alliance to End Homelessness to do a study for our community was a discussion we were having in our community around the need for additional shelter and what types of additional shelter we needed,” Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said
Since its 2010 inception, the Asheville-Buncombe CoC has not had a formal charter, according to Ball.
“We’ve had an establishing resolution for HIAC and we have bylaws for HIAC, but we’ve never had a CoC charter, again contributing to confusion about who has what role in our community.”
In a presentation, Ball explained that the current CoC has lacked “shared, transparent decision making” and therefore also lacked “responsibility and accountability.”
“It’s unclear who’s doing what, how to participate, who has power, what our outcomes are, and where our opportunities are,” she said.
That structure has not historically facilitated strong results, Ball said. The goal is for the CoC to be less of a stand alone organization and more of a “formal and collaborative planning body” that takes support from a lead agency.
The new governance structure would shift the CoC into a “structure where the CoC is a self-governing entity,” Manheimer said at the meeting.
The CoC, up until this point, has been governed by the Asheville-Buncombe Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee (HIAC), with the city serving as the CoC’s lead agency since 2010 when it was established. Committee members of HIAC are jointly appointed by Asheville City Council and the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.
Though according to federal guidelines CoCs are supposed to include a membership body, that has never been formalized here, Emily Ball, the city’s Homeless Strategy Division Manager, said.
“The Homeless Coalition has existed here for decades and I would say represents an informal picture of what a Continuum of Care membership could look like, but we’ve never had that formalized,” Ball said.
In order to bring the local CoC into alignment with federal standards – and to facilitate stronger results – a Governance Work Group of HIAC drafted a new charter, Ball said.
The work group includes HIAC Vice Chair Lance Crawford and HIAC members Elvia Diaz, Rick Freeman, Jen Teague, and Lacy Hoyle. It also includes Kerri Thomason of the Homeless Coalition, Tom Kirchgasser, and Buncombe County’s Matt Cable. Emily Ball and Kim Roney serve as liaisons for the city.
Why is a CoC charter emerging now? What does it change?
The new charter prioritizes a board of people who have lived experience of homelessness in the decision making process, as well as other service providers, private sector funders, and community advocates in order to consolidate the community’s approach to homelessness.
The new CoC plans to compensate those with lived experience for their time and efforts, which has not happened for current HIAC members who bring that background to the table. Liaisons from the city and county will have non-voting seats on the board.
The charter also creates several standing committees that include System Performance, System Planning and Implementation, Funding, Community Relations, and Nominating and Membership. It is a requirement for each committee to include members with lived experiences of homelessness.
As written, the city will still serve as the lead agency for the CoC and will facilitate the annual funding process and provide support through staffing. Within three years of charter adoption, the city will be subject to review as the lead agency and could be replaced, should the board and membership decide to make a change.
It also establishes a Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) Lead who will oversee the data collection arm of homelessness services.
According to the NAEH report, there are “no clear system-wide policies on how homelessness/eviction prevention and diversion interventions are tracked,” resulting in a “clear gap” that reduces the CoC’s ability to plan and track progress.
Low-barrier shelter, permanent supportive housing updates
The plan doubles down on the importance of a “housing-first” philosophy, a term that refers to the concept that homelessness cannot be solved without housing.
To that end, the city and county announced plans to work together on bringing a new low-barrier shelter to the Asheville area. A “shelter team” has formed to evaluate potential site options, service models, and resources, and plans to bring forward recommendations to the CoC Board in spring 2024.
City council abandoned a plan for a low barrier emergency shelter in 2021, opting instead to relinquish the property to a private developer for permanent supportive housing.
Buncombe County’s Homelessness Program Manager Lacy Hoyle said the goal is to have the low-barrier shelter operational by December 2024. Manheimer said that proposal is being “gelled up” now and she expects to see it for a vote in early 2024.
On the permanent supportive housing front, the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry (ABCCM) also has plans to build more units: a 38-unit apartment complex at Transformation Village for women and an 84-unit complex at Veterans Restoration Quarters.
Those developments are targeted to open in mid to late 2025, said Tim McElyea, director of Veterans Restoration Quarters.
Hoyle said the stalled Ramada Inn conversion project, another possible source of permanent supportive housing, does not currently have a target opening date, as the developers are “currently securing additional financing related to interest rate increases.”
Next steps for the CoC
In order to formally adopt the CoC charter, a membership body needs to be formalized.
The membership drive is officially live and open to any individuals and organizations with an interest in understanding homelessness and taking action against it. For its inaugural year, registration is free, though that might change in the future depending on what the future board and membership decide.
Members will vote on adopting the initial charter and future charters, board membership, and are eligible to serve on the board and other committees or work groups.
The first full membership meeting is expected to occur in early 2024 and there will be a vote to adopt the charter at that meeting. At the second membership meeting, there will be a vote on the board, which will become the new decision-making body. Once the board is decided, HIAC will dissolve, and board members will train, set strategy and priorities, and appoint committee members.
“We really are in a different place than we were in January 2023,” said Manheimer. “We have good and bad here. We have a challenge in our community that is tough for us, but the good news is we have so many folks here that want to do this work, so many community partners, nonprofits, faith-based institutions, all kinds of folks who want to do this work. We just need to help coordinate everyone and make us the most effective we can be.”
