An estimated 130 people in Buncombe County are still homeless as a result of Hurricane Helene. And the total number of unhoused people has increased to 824, a 9% uptick from last year.
That’s according to the Point-in-Time Count, an annual, HUD-mandated survey that relies on volunteers to collect data on people who are sleeping in emergency shelters, transitional housing or other transitional environments, including vehicles, tents or outdoors.
Of the 824 people counted as experiencing homelessness, 334 were living on the street. The rest were staying at a shelter or transitional housing, at least on the day of the Point-in-Time Count, which took place on Feb. 10.
The results of the survey were released at Thursday’s Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care meeting.
Damaged housing or lost income are two main reasons individuals cited for Helene-induced homelessness. In Buncombe County alone, Helene damaged 11,488 homes and destroyed 372, according to a 2026 study by the North Carolina Housing Coalition. Helene also spiked Buncombe’s unemployment rate to 10.4% in the immediate aftermath, although as of December 2025, that number has fallen back to the state average of around 3%.
Forty-three people who lost their homes during Helene are living at Community Covenant Church, an RV village created for families with school-age children.
Despite the number of unhoused people rising for the last two years — from 739 to 824 — Continuum of Care Board Member Jerry Kimbro maintained at Thursday’s meeting that “we have a plan.”
“Did we fix it or not? Well, no, of course we didn't fix it. That's not the right question,” Kimbro said, adding that the real consideration should be “are we building a system that is effectively dealing with the reality of what's going on where we live?”
Over the last year, the local government sponsored the creation of 85 additional emergency shelter beds, including 37 at Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry’s Safe Haven and 50 through Safe Shelter. These emergency beds are available on Code Purple nights, when the temperature is 32 degrees or lower and people are at-risk of freezing to death.
In February, Buncombe County was selected as one of 10 pilot communities for a national initiative called Right at Home. The program, expected to kick off in September, will provide $5 million in financial assistance for households on the brink of homelessness.
The Continuum of Care also recently published a three-year strategic plan, Kimbro added. That plan aims to:
- Build more shelters, including a low-barrier emergency shelter, and maximize the use of existing shelters.
- Increase programming that stops homelessness before it starts and that shortens it when it happens.
- Move people into permanent housing more efficiently.
- Make the whole system more coordinated and standardized.
See the full results of the 2026 Point-in-Time Count here.
