Beth Walton

The Citizen-Times

ASHEVILLE - There was a 10 percent increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness in 2017, according to data released by the city Thursday.

The national Point-in-Time count identified 562 people living on the streets, in shelters or in transitional housing progams in Buncombe County this January. Last year at that time, 509 people were counted.

The census is led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is conducted over a 24-hour period to gather snapshot information about people experiencing homelessness on one given night.

The office of U.S. Housing and Urban Development estimates a homeless person costs taxpayers $40,000 a year. In Buncombe County, that amounts to more than $22 million annually.

The city and Buncombe County adopted a 10-year plan to end homelessness in 2005.

"Homelessness numbers have increased in Asheville over 2016 numbers largely due to the continued lack of sufficient affordable units available – a trend seen in many communities across North Carolina and the rest of the country," said Heather Dillashaw, community development director for the City of Asheville.

"This means those experiencing homelessness are staying homeless longer, as many cannot immediately afford market-rate rents. Low wages continue to be a factor as well, our market-rate rents have continued to rise while our wages have not."

The Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee recently completed a Five Year Strategic Plan on Homelessness in Buncombe County to again address the issue.

It focuses on strengthened community partnerships, housing, case management, safety, transitional services, education and employment, transportation, prevention and diversion.

There is also a greater emphasis on setting group-specific strategies to assist sub-populations experiencing high rates of homelessness, such as veterans.

More:WNC poverty: Stronger safety net requires action, compassion

Of the 562 individuals counted as homeless in 2017, 239 identified as veterans. This represents 43 percent of the total homeless population in Buncombe County, according to data the city provided.

"The good news in Asheville is that we have a strong network of service providers working together every day of the week to offer basic services to those who are homeless, and simultaneously beginning to work on a stable housing pathway," Dillashaw said.

Despite a near zero vacancy rate for the past two years in affordable units, more than 400 formerly homeless people were housed in Buncombe County in 2016, she added. Additional affordable units are now under construction in both Asheville and Buncombe County.

"Housing is a needed component, but we need people to be able to be successful inside of housing and the underlying issues that may have attributed to them being homeless are the things we need to deal with on the front end," said the Rev. Micheal Woods, executive director of Western Carolina Rescue Ministries, which operates the city's largest homeless shelter.

"You would never solve homelessness only by creating enough houses. There are always other issues that are there, and I think we need to address those things," he said.

The number of people experiencing homelessness is much higher than the Point-In-Time count reflects, added Woods. That data is not taking into account people who are sleeping on a friend's couch or sharing someone's home because they don't have their own stable place to live.

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In addition to looking critically at Buncombe County's affordable housing stock, more attention needs to be paid to health care and mental health support for those suffering from homelessness, he said.

"It's not just our county or our city, this is happening all across the country and nobody has come up with viable solutions," Woods said. "Although we are seeing a better economy, that's not necessarily translating for those that are in poverty."

The U.S. Census Bureau identified 37,000 people in Buncombe County as living below the federal poverty threshold in 2015, set that year at $12,082 for a single individual and $25,257 for a family of four.

That amounts to just over one in six people, a 20 percent increase from 2014 and up 44 percent from 2006.

Nearly 17 percent of the population in the city lived in poverty in 2015, according to the American Community Survey.

"For me, homelessness is a function of economic injustice," said the Rev. Amy Cantrell, who runs Beloved Asheville, which provides affordable housing and advocates for the homeless population in town.

More:History of Asheville’s homeless: Humanity on trial

"We need to continue to look at investing in root causes," she said. "We have to look at how to create a city that is sustainable and livable for all of us.

"That is the number one question at hand, and that comes down to how we spend resources and how we think about living together as a whole community."

Cantrell has been an active participant in the Million Dollars for the People Campaign. The group is protesting a proposed increase in Asheville Police Department's budget.

"These are people's lives," Cantrell said. "These are people I see every day struggling to survive."