More low-threshold homeless shelters in Asheville? CoC issues request for proposals

ASHEVILLE — More low-barrier homeless shelters in Asheville could be one step closer thanks to a July 15 call for proposals.

The RFP asks for organizations willing to provide one or more shelters with the capacity to support 100 individuals or households on any given day or night – in a location that is easily accessible, where behavioral health issues, substance use disorders, mental illness, and other barriers do not prevent people from accessing needed beds.

Emily Ball, the city’s homelessness strategy manager, said the tender could also lead to proposals to expand the capacity of low-barrier shelters in existing spaces. This could mean proposals for a large emergency shelter in a converted or new building.

While Asheville has a day shelter in the city center, several dispersed shelter locations, and a number of permanent and temporary housing facilities, Ball says the current need for shelter exceeds the community’s capacity.

“We know this from both 2024 Point-in-Time count data and from shelter providers reporting long wait lists,” Ball said in a July 19 email. “Ideally, (Continuum of Care’s) homeless services would have enough capacity to accommodate everyone in crisis, and that’s just not where we are as a community right now.”

The area’s latest count, typically a one-night count of the homeless population, showed a total of 739 people are homeless in Asheville and Buncombe County, with 520 in shelters and transitional housing and 219 unhoused.

The goal of expanding emergency shelter capacity, Ball said, is “to have enough beds for everyone who needs a bed, regardless of any other characteristics of that person.”

Who issued the RFP?

The RFP was issued by the recently restructured Continuum of Care, a collaborative, community-driven planning body that oversees a coordinated response to homelessness in the area. Proposals are due July 29.

The CoC shelter working group is comprised of city and county staff, shelter providers, and other stakeholders. In the city’s role as lead agency, providing strategic and administrative support to the CoC, it will gather submissions for the working group’s review and evaluation. The working group will present a recommendation to the CoC board for consideration on August 15.

From there, the proposal will go to Buncombe County in September for funding consideration. Last year, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners set aside American Rescue Plan Act funding — about $3.6 million — for shelter and housing, to be used in part or in full to create low-barrier shelter capacity, according to the RFP.

Capital and start-up costs are the “preferred expenses” for this financing option, the document said.

What is in the RFP?

A January 2023 report from the National Alliance to End Homelessness recommended that the CoC prioritize the development of a plan to significantly expand transitional housing options for single adults and families with children who are not veterans.

The intention to adhere to the principles of ‘Housing First’ is included in the scope of the RFP, with the ‘ultimate outcome’ being that participants move into permanent housing.

Housing First is an approach to ending homelessness that prioritizes quickly and successfully connecting people to permanent housing without conditions and barriers to entry. The practice is supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

It’s a response to what many experts call the real cause of homelessness: lack of housing.

Research by Gregg Colburn, author of Homelessness is a Housing Problem, found that only housing-related factors, such as average rent and vacancy rates, were associated with regional homelessness rates.

More: How Many People in Asheville Are Homeless and Homeless? The 2024 Numbers Have Been Released

More: Low-threshold homeless shelter on Asheville’s horizon. But will it get council support?

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or message me on X, formerly Twitter, at @slhonosky. Support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared in Asheville Citizen Times: CoC issues request for proposals for low-threshold shelter in Asheville