Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care

About

Homelessness is a community-wide issue that requires a community-wide response, with nonprofits, governments, healthcare systems, funders, advocates, volunteers, and people with lived expertise working together in a unified approach. The Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care (CoC) is a community-based membership body organized to share in decision-making, responsibility, and accountability for developing and overseeing a comprehensive and well-coordinated system of effective services designed to prevent and quickly resolve occurrences of homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County.

The CoC was established February 29, 2024 and has four main components:

A Membership body of individuals and organizations with an interest in understanding homelessness and taking action together to address it. Membership is open to any individual or organization, and all members who have completed orientation are eligible to vote, as well as serve on the Board, Committees, and Work Groups. To become a member, complete the CoC Membership Form.
A Board elected from the Membership, by the Membership, to lead strategy and priorities and to make decisions for the CoC. Board members are community leaders of key sectors and partner systems of care who can align decisions within their authority with CoC objectives to coordinate a full community response.
Committees and Work Groups of members, appointed by the Board, and given clear scopes of work, duties, deliverables, and time frames. Committees and Work Groups include issue experts and volunteers with time and wide-ranging skills to complete the substantive work of the CoC under Board direction.
A Lead Agency designated by the CoC to provide strategic and administrative support. The Asheville-Buncombe CoC has designated the City of Asheville as its Lead Agency for neutral backbone support, and the City’s Homeless Strategy Division fulfills that role.

The CoC does not provide direct services to people in housing crises, but is a structured way to facilitate collaboration of service providers and other partners to coordinate those services into a shared system with shared goals and increasing effectiveness. The CoC was established by the Membership on February 29, 2024 by formal adoption of the Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care Governance Charter. The charter outlines roles, responsibilities, and operations and establishes Shared Values and Guiding Principles for the CoC’s work:

Value the voice of people with lived experience
Be bold
Create accountable and transparent governance structures
Build trust through unity, collaboration, and performance
Focus on housing solutions
Make decisions using data and evidence
Focus on our future
Promote a person-centered system to ensure individualized needs are met
Ensure that politics do not drive policies

Events and Opportunities

The CoC’s core documents, plans, policies, and meeting materials are available in the CoC Information Center, along with current Events and Opportunities.