Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care

The Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care (CoC) is the collaborative planning body responsible 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 has four components:

A membership body of individuals and organizations with an interest in understanding homelessness and taking action together to address it. There are currently over 300 members of the Asheville-Buncombe CoC.
A board elected by the membership body, from the membership body, to set strategy, priorities, and performance metrics. The CoC board brings together leaders of partner systems of care with fiscal and program authority. The first board of the CoC was elected on April 25, 2024 at a meeting of the full membership.
Committees and work groups of members, appointed by the board, and given clear scopes of work, duties, deliverables, and time frames. Much of the substantive work of the CoC will happen in committees.
A Lead Agency designated by the membership body to provide strategic and administrative support to the CoC. The City of Asheville’s Homeless Strategy Division serves as the CoC Lead Agency. The CoC is not an initiative of the City of Asheville, but is community-based work with staff support from the Homeless Strategy Division.

Happening Now

Take the Strategic Planning Survey

The CoC Board will participate in a two-day strategic planning session on November 12 and 14, 2024 where they will develop a three-year strategic plan for the CoC and subsequent one-year action plans detailing the work of the CoC.

Your voice is critical as the Board makes decisions about priorities and strategy. All data collected will be presented at the CoC Board and Membership Meetings on October 16, 2024 and CoC Members will work with this data to further clarify the direction in which they would like to see the CoC progress.

Click here to access the survey and participate in the strategic planning process.

Paper forms will also be available for those who would like to complete a hard-copy survey and Lead Agency staff will announce locations and directions for accessing those forms as soon as they are available.

Please email homelessstrategy@ashevillenc.gov or call 828-747-8168 with any questions!

CoC Board Applications Now Open

On April 25, 2024 the CoC Membership voted to approve the first round of recommended Board candidates along with the Non-Voting Liaisons from City Council and County Commission. During the initial Board application process, there were no applicants for five representative seats:

Local Non-Governmental Funders
Business Community
Faith Community
Community Member (one of two seats)
Supportive Provider Network

The Nominating and Membership Committee is beginning the application process to fill these five remaining seats. Interested and qualified applicants should review the CoC Governance Charter and Board Member Role Descriptions for additional details. Applications are due by Friday, September 20, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. The Nominating and Membership Committee will review applications, conduct interviews, and develop a slate of candidates. The full CoC membership will vote in October to appoint the recommended slate and the full Board will participate in Strategic Planning in November.

Click here to access the CoC Board Application

Become a Member of the CoC

Anyone with an interest in understanding homelessness and taking action to address it can become a member of the CoC! Members can be individuals or organizations and staff of member organizations are encouraged to become individual members. CoC members are eligible to serve on the board, committees, and work groups.

You will receive an email confirming receipt of your membership form. Please email homelessstrategy@ashevillenc.gov or call 828-747-8168 if you would like a paper copy of these forms to be mailed to you.

Attend New Member Orientation

All new CoC members are required to attend a one-hour orientation in order to be eligible to vote as part of the full membership body. Orientations happen on an ongoing basis and dates are announced as orientations become available. Please fill out the orientation registration form to see available dates and sign up.

Stay Engaged

The Continuum of Care takes all of us! Your active participation helps the CoC grow and change in ways that will better serve our neighbors experiencing housing insecurity and the community as a whole. Use the Member Engagement Form or call the Member Engagement Voicemail at 828-271-6161 to share reflections, ask questions, make suggestions, and indicate your interest in getting more involved with the work of the CoC. All information collected through this form and voicemail box will be channeled through the CoC Board. Lead Agency staff may also respond when appropriate.

Upcoming Board and Membership Meetings

Coordinated Entry Redesign Kickoff and Work Session

You’re invited to share your voice as the Coordinated Entry Work Group begins their work to redesign our community’s Coordinated Entry System. This kickoff event and work session is open to all CoC members and will include:

an overview of Coordinated Entry
a review of the scope of work for the work group over the next year
process mapping
a review of assessments and prioritization tools used in other communities

Please consider participating, particularly if you are staff at a homelessness service provider agency or someone with personal experience accessing services in our community. Please email homelessstrategy@ashevillenc.gov if you have any questions about this event!

When: Wednesday, September 25, 2024 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Where: Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Banquet Hall (87 Haywood Street)

Parking + Transportation: Parking for this event can be validated and transportation assistance is available. Please plan to park at any of the city-owned parking garages – you will need to have a paper ticket from the garage or the ability to pay with a credit card in order to use validation. Please ask for a parking validation form at the registration table when you arrive at the meeting. If you need transportation assistance, please email homelessstrategy@ashevillenc.gov or call 828-271-6161.

Board + Membership Meeting

When: Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Board Meeting – 4:00 – 5:30 p.m.

Membership Meeting – 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Where: Harrah’s Cherokee Center – Banquet Hall (87 Haywood Street)

*Meeting materials will be published seven (7) days prior to these meetings.

Background

What is a Continuum of Care?

The CoC is a formally structured planning body, not an incorporated organization like a standalone nonprofit or business, that allows our community to share responsibility, accountability and make decisions together. It is voluntary, participatory, and self-governing, and consolidates the efforts of nonprofits, governments, housing providers, landlords, funders, advocates, and experts to build a coordinated approach to addressing homelessness.

The CoC does not provide direct services (like rental assistance or shelter) to people in crisis, nor does it provide direct funding to service providers. Instead it is a way of convening people and organizations already taking action in those areas to facilitate collaboration, collect and review data that measures the service system’s effectiveness, and provide evidence-based recommendations to adjust the system when necessary. It is a federal framework to guide local communities in effective and collaborative homelessness response.

The CoC is solutions-oriented with a common goal to resolve the crisis of each person experiencing homelessness. Trust and transparency are critical to develop a collaborative and unified approach to respond to these crises efficiently and effectively.

In Asheville and Buncombe County, the Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee (HIAC) has traditionally served as the CoC Board. Based on recommendations from the National Alliance to End Homelessness about how to improve unsheltered homelessness in our community, HIAC initiated a process to create a new community-based membership body and elect a new CoC Board for more widespread participation and improved results.

The restructured CoC has recently been established and is governed by a charter adopted by its membership body on February 29, 2024. The charter outlines roles and responsibilities of the CoC membership, board, committees, and Lead Agency. It also details the spirit of the CoC’s collaborative work through agreed-upon Shared Values and Guiding Principles:

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 our future
Promote equity to advance change
Politics will not drive policies

Timeline

Date	Action
January 25, 2023	National Alliance to End Homelessness presented recommendations emphasizing the need to build an effective CoC
February 9, 2023	Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee formed a Governance Work Group to lead CoC restructure and development
October 12, 2023	Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee endorses draft of new CoC charter and transitions Governance Work Group into Nominating and Membership Committee of the new CoC
December 4, 2023	CoC Membership drive begins. CoC Members invited to provide feedback on draft charter
February 8, 2024	Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee endorses draft charter with revisions based on CoC Member feedback
February 29, 2024	CoC Membership holds first meeting and votes to adopt its new Governance Charter. Board application process begins.
April 25, 2024	CoC Membership holds second meeting and elects new CoC Board
May 23, 2024	First Board Meeting

CoC Board and Membership

Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care Board

Elected April 25, 2024

CoC Board Officers
	Representative Seat	Candidate	Affiliation
Chair	Healthcare System	Melina Arrowood	Mission Hospital
Vice-Chair	Victim Service Provider	April Burgess-Johnson	Helpmate
Secretary	Shelter and Transitional Housing Provider	Christian Chambers	Safe Shelter

CoC Board
Representative Seat	Candidate	Affiliation
Subject Matter Expert with Lived Experience of Homelessness	Josh Morrow	Sunrise Community
Subject Matter Expert with Lived Experience of Homelessness	Karen Hayes-Roberts	Umoja
Behavioral Healthcare System	Celeste Ordiway	Vaya Health
Unsheltered Service Provider	Scott Rogers	ABCCM
Permanent Housing Provider	Jenny Moffatt	Homeward Bound
Public Safety	Mike Lamb	Asheville Police Department
Community Member	Rick Freeman	Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods
Appointed Seat	Appointee	Role
Asheville Housing Authority	Monique Pierre	President and CEO
Buncombe County Staff	Lacy Hoyle	Homelessness Program Manager
City of Asheville Staff	Debra Campbell	City Manager
Veterans Administration	Katie Miller	Grant and Per Diem Liaison
Non-Voting Liaisons
Buncombe County Commissioner		Parker Sloan
Asheville City Council Member		Mayor Esther Manheimer