LOCAL

Asheville's winter homeless shelter demand 'will be overwhelming,' preparations underway

Asheville Citizen Times

An encampment that was growing along the French Broad River in December. It was cleared by Asheville police Dec. 30, 2021.

ASHEVILLE - When last year's Code Purple emergency shelter options suffered delays, staffing challenges threatening to leave unsheltered people freezing on street corners or huddled in tents, Melanie Robertson and Kevin Mahoney were two of the people who stepped in to help.

Now, Robertson and Mahoney are co-chairs of the Asheville-Buncombe Homeless Coalition and are determined that Code Purple will not only begin earlier this year but will better serve the most vulnerable of the city's burgeoning homeless population.

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“We are all working together, and that’s big," Robertson said. She was one of the forces behind the Code Purple shelter at Trinity United Methodist Church in West Asheville and co-founded the Jubilee! Alternative Micro-Shelter downtown.

Jubilee! Community at 101 Patton Avenue in downtown Asheville.

"I want our community to hear that. We are working together for the best solutions we can. That’s not just for unhoused people, but for our community at large.”

The Homeless Coalition discussed winter plans at its Aug. 9 meeting.

The same afternoon, a Code Purple working group of the Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee met with historic Code Purple providers, such as Salvation Army and ABCCM, as well as Mahoney, Robertson, Emily Ball with the city's Homeless Strategy Division, an Asheville Police Department representative and other stakeholders to discuss options.

This meeting was not open to the public.

Ball said this was an early conversation with traditional shelter providers to evaluate what worked last year, what didn't, and the vision and capacity for the coming winter. She said it will also make clear what gaps must be filled.

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The Homeless Coalition calls Code Purple when temperatures are expected to drop below 32 degrees. When called, area shelters and other organizations open emergency shelter overflow to the hundreds of people experiencing homelessness in Asheville.

Numbers have been on the rise in recent months, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the latest count, completed Jan. 24, identified 637 experiencing homelessness, 232 who were unsheltered.

That is 110 more than the 2021 count, which found 527 people experiencing homelessness in Asheville, of which 116 were unsheltered.

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Typically, shelters are available mid-November. In 2021, shelter options were announced on Dec. 1, though temperatures dropped below freezing weeks earlier.

Several Code Purple alerts were called without shelter options available.

For the first time, the city's fiscal year 2023 budget contains $50,000 in dedicated funding for Code Purple emergency shelters in extreme winter temperatures and support for continued funding in coming years.

Buncombe County also allocated an additional $50,000 in its FY 2023 budget, according to Ball.

This year, with summer winding down, Mahoney, a community health worker and peer support specialist, said emergency shelter options will likely begin in late October. While he imagines the central providers will be operating as usual, he hopes smaller organizations, like faith-based groups and businesses, will fill in the gaps.

Jeffery Glenn visits with Bear, a dog staying with its owner at Trinity Methodist Church in West Asheville March 31, 2022.

Last year, three shelters offered Code Purple emergency shelter: ABCCM's Costello House, with 50 beds of Code Purple shelter for men; the Salvation Army, with about eight beds for women and children; and, the newest option, Trinity United Methodist Church, with capacity for about 20 people.

But lack of beds was often a concern, Robertson said, particularly for more marginalized populations — such as women and LGBTQ individuals. People in couples, intact families and those with pets also struggled to find places they could stay together.

Mahoney said he imagines a "tertiary net" of smaller capacity or microshelters, somewhat similar to Homeward Bound's Room in the Inn program it operated for more than a decade until it ended in 2020 at the onset of the pandemic.

“We want to cover all the bases, but do it in bite size chunks," Mahoney said. "That way no one will be overwhelmed.”

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At the Homeless Coalition meeting, there were also discussions of switching to a "winter shelter" model, rather than Code Purple — a change that would mean emergency shelter is offered every winter night, not just when temperatures dip below freezing.

Amanda Pace Kollar, Operation Director of the Code Purple shelter at Trinity United Methodist Church in West Asheville, points out tear stains left by the artist of an image hanging in the community hall January 13, 2022.

Amanda Kollar, co-founder of the Jubilee microshelter, said she was a "huge proponent" of that model, which helps to reduce stress for people using shelter services by creating greater consistency.

Marc Czarnecki, another Homeless Coalition attendee, said any program would need to be very well thought out and executed.

"I think this year the demand will be overwhelming," he said.

Robertson agreed that the need is accelerating, and she is frustrated by a lack of affordable housing "and the endless list of folks that qualify but there is nowhere for them to go."

“I wish that the public could understand that it could be them next week," she said of people living in cars, on the street or camping at the edges of the city. She referenced the plight of one of Jubilee's current residents: an 84-year-old woman with a college degree, a former federal government job, and no experience before now with homelessness.

She showed up in Asheville last week looking for help, Robertson said, and found herself with nowhere to go, living off her last little bit of retirement, having recently lost her spouse with no family to turn to.

“She makes too much money for some assistance, but she doesn’t make enough to survive. That is something that is broken that we need to find solutions to," Robertson said. “That’s why sounding the alarm right now is so important."

In other news

While various organizations are seeking overlapping solutions and Band-Aids for Asheville's homelessness crisis, the city is in the midst of Phase 1 of its new partnership with the National Alliance to End Homelessness.

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The city entered into an almost $73,000 contract with the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit in May, funded by Dogwood Health Trust, which will result in a needs assessment and recommendations for addressing unsheltered homelessness in Buncombe County.

In July, the city launched its project page for the effort, which includes a survey that will be open through Aug. 19.

Ball invited all community members to participate in the survey. The link can be found at surveymonkey.com/r/S96TKP8.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.