Summary: Asheville City Council will consider accepting a $6 million grant to help prevent homelessness among at least 1,000 vulnerable households over three years. We support this investment in keeping people housed and encourage the City to measure its effectiveness so that future efforts can build on what works.

The Facts: At its October 13 meeting, City Council will consider accepting a $6 million grant from the non-profit organization, Destination Home, for a three-year initiative called Right at Home. The program would provide homelessness prevention services, including rental assistance and case management, to at least 1,000 financially vulnerable households. The initiative would be administered through the local Continuum of Care. No City matching funds are required.

You can read the staff report for this issue here.

Our Assessment: Preventing homelessness before it happens is one of the most direct ways to avert displacement. Helping residents remain in their homes can spare families considerable hardship while potentially reducing the need for more costly interventions after they become homeless.

We welcome this initiative and encourage the City to use it to learn more about what puts households at risk and which interventions are most effective.

Two questions seem particularly important: How will the program identify and reach households before they lose their housing? And how will the City measure and publicly report whether participating households remain stably housed?

Gathering these findings will not only help Right at Home fulfill its purpose; it will also strengthen the City’s broader efforts to identify and address displacement risks.

Things to do: Email City Council using our template below to support the Right at Home initiative and encourage clear measures of its effectiveness. (The template also includes the other issues in today’s report.)

Email Template: You can send an email to key Asheville City staff by filling out the form below. Our email tool will send an individually addressed email to the recipients, and enable us to track how many emails were sent overall in the campaign. If you prefer to write your own email, you can copy and paste (and adapt) our template text – please cc: or bcc: info@gapavl.org on your individualized email, so we can better track how many emails were sent. 

Important: If you receive a response to your email, please forward it to us at info@gapavl.org so we can reflect that in the report back.

To: ashevillenccouncil@ashevillenc.gov

CC: or BCC: info@gapavl.org

Subject: Supporting housing stability and economic opportunity in Asheville

Dear Mayor Manheimer and members of City Council,

I’m writing to express my support for several proposals before Council on October 13 that could help Asheville residents remain in their homes and communities.

I’m especially pleased to see the prospect of the $6 million Right at Home initiative, which aims to prevent homelessness for at least 1,000 households. Helping people remain housed rather than waiting until they become homeless is exactly the kind of preventive investment our community needs. I encourage the City to track and publicly report how effectively the program helps families maintain stable housing, and to use these data for ongoing, coordinated anti-displacement efforts.

I also support three other proposals:

• Habitat for Humanity’s 23 affordable homes in Shiloh. I hope these homes will be accessible to existing neighborhood residents, including those with incomes well below 80% of area median income.
• The Costco development could bring hundreds of relatively well-paying jobs with benefits to Asheville. I know that the City and Costco have discussed opportunities for hiring residents who face employment barriers, including formerly incarcerated people. I would like to see a clearer commitment from Costco to this important community practice.
• The HOME-ARP amendment, which can help people experiencing homelessness obtain housing. I encourage Council to establish clear safeguards so that people with urgent needs are not inadvertently excluded and to report publicly on how assistance is distributed.

These four votes are promising steps toward a more affordable and economically secure Asheville. I appreciate the work that has gone into these proposals and encourage Council to move them forward while ensuring that their benefits reach those who need them most.

Thank you for your leadership.

[Name]
[Address or neighborhood, if desired]