Asheville, Buncombe getting $1.8M in annual HUD funding to combat homelessness

Andrew Jones, Asheville Citizen Times
·3 min read
Tents set up Riverbend Park near the Walmart in East Asheville are pictured in this file photo from April 8, 2021.
Tents set up Riverbend Park near the Walmart in East Asheville are pictured in this file photo from April 8, 2021.

ASHEVILLE - The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Continuum of Care program announced March 14 Asheville and Buncombe would receive $1.88 million to combat homelessness, about $135,000 shy of what the area was hoping for.

Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care applied in November for just more than $2.02 million for fiscal year 2021 funding from the HUD program, which is designed to end homelessness.

Payouts for this program are annual and, according to HUD records, the city-county allocation for the 2020 fiscal year was $1.81 million.

More: State of Asheville: Mayor talks homelessness, police, affordable housing at CIBO

The newest allocations — many of which are renewals of existing funding operations — will see numerous organizations receive tens of thousands of dollars to address homelessness.

In the Asheville-Buncombe area, the largest of these is HUD Exchange's Shelter Plus Care program, which "provides a variety of permanent housing choices, accompanied by a range of supportive services funded through other sources," according to HUD.

Shelter Plus Care will receive $447,472.

Bridge to Recovery will receive $433,473, the second highest amount in the 2021 allocations.

Four separate permanent supportive housing efforts tied to Homeward Bound will receive a total $713,405.

Though the specific programs are unnamed, $172,622 will go toward maintaining and expanding funds used to create housing support for domestic violence victims.

Officials from the city of Asheville, which is the lead on CoC, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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A tally of funds from U.S. Housing and Urban Development that will come to Asheville-Buncombe program from Continuum of Care, a federal program designed to help eradicate homelessness across the nation.
A tally of funds from U.S. Housing and Urban Development that will come to Asheville-Buncombe program from Continuum of Care, a federal program designed to help eradicate homelessness across the nation.

North Carolina alone will receive $34.5 million in CoC funding.

“Access to stable housing is a basic necessity – the safety of a home is essential, especially as we continue to fight the COVID-19 virus,” HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said in a March 14 release.

“These Continuum of Care program grants, coupled with the historic resources in the American Rescue Plan, will deliver communities the resources needed to ensure that every person in a respective community has the equitable opportunity to a safe and stable home.”

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According to HUD, the CoC program is designed to promote a community-wide commitment to the goal of ending homelessness and is the "largest source of federal grant funding for homeless services and housing programs servicing people experiencing homelessness."

This latest round of of allocations include approximately $102 million for new domestic violence support projects and funds new projects focusing on adding permanent housing to communities.

This year, HUD sought projects that:

  • End homelessness for all persons experiencing homelessness;

  • Use a Housing First approach;

  • Reduce unsheltered homelessness and reduce the criminalization of homelessness;

  • Improve system performance;

  • Partner with housing and health agencies, to leverage and coordinate American Rescue Plan resources;

  • Advance racial equity and addressing racial disparities in homelessness; and

  • Engage people with lived experience of homelessness in decision-making.

Receiving CoC funds means localities must conduct an annual point-in-time county of their homeless populations.

Last conducted in January 2021, the 2021 Point in Time count identified 527 people experiencing homelessness, 116 unsheltered, and 411 sheltered, down from 547 in 2020.

Data for the 2022 count — conducted on Jan. 25 — will be submitted in a report to HUD in April.

More: Asheville Homeless Services: Increase in city unsheltered population expected after count

City of Asheville's Homeless Services System Performance Lead Emily Ball addressing Buncombe Board of Commissioners in February that CoC's two main goals are to create permanent housing for houseless people and get a benchmark where individuals are homeless for less than 90 days.

Andrew Jones is Buncombe County government and health care reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at @arjonesreports on Facebook and Twitter, 828-226-6203 or arjones@citizentimes.com. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: HUD $1.8M payout will help Asheville, Buncombe combat homelessness