Asheville pilot program would study, address 'long-term' issues in homelessness, addiction

ASHEVILLE - The city is developing a pilot program to study and respond to “long-term” public safety issues in Asheville, such as addiction and homelessness.

The proposed pilot — dubbed the Community Responder Pilot Program — was discussed Sept. 27 at the city's Public Safety Committee meeting. It would see city employees connect unhoused people and those suffering from substance abuse with resources, Fire Chief Scott Burnette told the Citizen Times.

“Currently, the city of Asheville’s resources are focused on short-term, focused on the acute,” he said during a presentation to the committee. “City of Asheville resources, we don’t have a lot of ability or capability to address long-term care options related to folks who are experiencing … health issues, those who are unsheltered, those who are experiencing addiction. Often, those issues are overlapping.”

Asheville police and firefighters have responded to 911 calls and assisted in such situations, but some larger response will be needed to deal with long-term problems, he said.

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The pilot program, still early in development, would be a part of the city’s stated goal to “reimagine public safety.”

Asheville Fire Department is the project manager, but the program would be a city-wide effort, Burnette told the Citizen Times.

“One very important outcome of this responder pilot program would be to collect data, and to continue to identify and define where those current gaps are in our community, and to inform this committee, to inform council, to inform our decision-makers where those current gaps are and where solutions and resources need to be applied," he said during the committee meeting.

By the nature of the work, the program’s team would work with local agencies and nonprofits frequently, Burnette told the Citizen Times.

City Council member Kim Roney, who is on the committee, raised questions about the cost of contracting similar services offered by Buncombe County as opposed to creating a new program.

“I am concerned about duplicating services while we’re understaffed,” she said.

“I want to hold the container for both excitement that we’re finally getting some traction on doing our own program, and also when I see — just transit is an example — with having two management facilities, two sets of staff, two sets of capital costs: what is the cost to Asheville and Buncombe taxpayers if we risk duplicating something like this again?”

City Manager Debra Campbell said there might be more information on costs by January or February but noted that the proposed pilot was still early in development.

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“We want to make sure that this is completely complementary, and not a duplication or even competitive,” Burnette said.

“The goal, the intent, the outcomes of this program are to meet what is currently unmet – that the (Buncombe County) community paramedic program is not able to meet with both their resources, their staffing, their mission and their scope. We want to be able to focus on those behavioral health issues, those unsheltered issues that the community paramedic is not able to meet currently," he said.

The county’s program was created to offer aid in the midst of the opioid crisis.

Burnette noted Asheville’s program would have to be a “complementary” partnership with the county’s own efforts, as well as the efforts of other local nonprofits and agencies.

Details of what the program would entail are still being put together.

The public safety committee is scheduled for an update on the proposed program in November. If it moves forward, the city will still need to finalize its concept, find an area to run the pilot and develop an action plan with a budget.

Ryan Oehrli is the breaking news and social justice reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times. Send tips to coehrli@citizentimes.com. 

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Asheville pilot program could study, address homelessness, addiction