ASHEVILLE - More low-barrier homeless shelters for Asheville could be a step closer to reality with the July 15 issuance of a request for proposals.
The RFP asks for organizations prepared to provide one or more shelters with capacity to support 100 individuals or households on any given day or night — somewhere easily accessible, where behavioral health challenges, substance use disorder, mental health conditions and other barriers would not prevent people from accessing needed beds.
While it could mean proposals for a large emergency shelter in a repurposed or new building, Emily Ball, the city's homeless strategy division manager, said the RFP also could result in proposals to expand low-barrier shelter capacity in existing spaces.
Though Asheville is home to a downtown day shelter, several scattered shelter sites and some permanent and transitional housing facilities, Ball said current shelter needs exceed the community's capacity.
"We know that both from 2024 Point-in-Time count data and from shelter providers who report long waitlists," Ball said in a July 19 email. "Ideally the (Continuum of Care's) homeless services would have enough capacity to intake everyone in crisis, and that's simply not where we are as a community right now."
The area's latest point in time count, typically a single-night census of its unhoused population, found 739 total people experiencing homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County — 520 in shelter and transitional housing, 219 unsheltered.
The goal of emergency shelter capacity expansion, Ball said, is "to have enough beds to serve anyone who needs a bed, regardless of any other characteristics they might have."
Who issued the RFP?
The RFP was issued by the newly restructured Continuum of Care, a collaborative, community-driven planning body that works to oversee a coordinated response to area homelessness. Proposals are due July 29.
The CoC's shelter work group is composed of city and county staff, shelter providers and other stakeholders. In the city's role as the lead agency, providing strategic and administrative support to the CoC, it will compile submissions for the work group's review and evaluation. The work group will present a recommendation to the CoC board for consideration Aug. 15.
From there, the proposal will be submitted to Buncombe County for funding consideration in September. Last year, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners earmarked American Rescue Plan Act funding — around $3.6 million — for shelter and housing, to be used in part or in total for the creation of low-barrier shelter capacity, per the RFP.
Capital and startup costs are the "preferred expenditures" for this funding opportunity, the document said.
What's in the RFP?
A January 2023 report by the National Alliance to End Homelessness recommended the CoC prioritize development of a plan to significantly increase temporary housing options for non-veteran single adults and families with children.
The intention to adhere to "Housing First" principles is included in the RFP's scope of work, with the "ultimate outcome" to move participants into permanent housing.
Housing First is an approach to ending homelessness that prioritizes quickly and successfully connecting people to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry. The practice is supported by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as well as the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
It's an answer to what many subject matters experts call the true cause of homelessness: lack of housing.
Research by Gregg Colburn, author of "Homelessness is a Housing Problem," found only housing-related factors, including median rent and rental vacancy rates, correlated with regional rates of homelessness.
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 X, formerly Twitter, at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
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