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.

Upcoming Events

Board and Membership Holiday Gathering

This joint meeting will include some Board and Membership business as well as a chance to celebrate the work of the CoC so far and look ahead to 2025 together. Save the date!

When: Tuesday, November 12, 2024 | 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

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

Parking and Transportation for CoC Meetings

Due to Tropical Storm Helene, all downtown parking is currently free. The ART bus system is also operating at no cost. If you have questions or need additional assistance, please email homelessstrategy@ashevillenc.gov or call 828-747-8168.

Take Action

CoC Board Applications Reopened

At their meeting on Monday, November 4, 2024 the Nominating and Membership Committee decided to reopen the CoC Board Application in order to ensure a diverse group of candidates could be considered to fill the remaining 5 vacant Board seats. The vacant representative seats are:

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

Interested and qualified applicants should review the CoC Governance Charter and Board Member Role Descriptions for additional details and expectations. Applications are due by Friday, November 29, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. The Nominating and Membership Committee will review applications, conduct interviews, and develop a slate of candidates to recommend to the Board and Membership on December 19, 2024. The full Board will participate in Strategic Planning in January 2025.

Click here to complete the Board application. As a reminder: all applicants must be members of the CoC and submit three (3) letters of support from other CoC members.

Please email homelessstrategy@ashevillenc.gov or call 828-747-8168 if you would like a paper copy of the Board application or if you have any questions.

Compensation for People with Lived Experience of Homelessness Work Group Interest Forms – Now Open

At their meeting on November 12, 2024, the CoC Board initiated a process to appoint a work group focused on developing a process and policy for compensating people with lived and living experience of homelessness who share that experience and expertise with the CoC.

Josh Morrow, CoC Board member, will serve as Chair and the work group will include representatives from both the Funding Committee and Nominating and Membership Committee. Initial work of this group could include:

Understanding the financial landscape, answering questions about source of funding for compensation, fiscal agency, and forms of payment.
Hearing from CoC members with lived and living experience about their needs and perspectives.
Developing a process for members to request compensation and the requirements and expectations the CoC may have of those receiving compensation.

This opportunity is open to all CoC members. If you are not yet a member of the CoC, please complete the Membership Agreement Form ahead of completing this interest form. The Nominating and Membership Committee will review all interest forms and may conduct interviews with candidates if necessary. The Committee will develop a slate of candidates for work group participation to recommend to the Board for approval at the joint Board and Membership Holiday Gathering on December 19, 2024.

Click here to complete the Compensation for People with Lived Experience of Homelessness Work Group Interest Form.

Please submit an interest form no later than Sunday, December 1, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.

Take the Strategic Planning Survey

The CoC Board will participate in a two-day strategic planning session in January 2025 (postponed from November) 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.

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

Please email homelessstrategy@ashevillenc.gov or call 828-747-8168 if you would prefer a paper survey or if you have any questions!

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.

Funding Update

Continuum of Care Program Competition

The deadline to submit the Continuum of Care FY2024-FY2025 Consolidated Application has been extended to December 11, 2024 in response to Tropical Storm Helene. Project applications were due on September 20, 2024 but have not yet been reviewed. The new timeline for project review, ranking, and submission is as follows:

October 24, 2024 – November 7, 2024	Funding Committee reviews project applications and completes scorecards
November 12, 2024	CoC Board hears Funding Committee recommendations and votes to approve applications for submission to HUD
November 12, 2024	Applicants notified of CoC Board divisions, including CoC Priority Listing status
November 19, 2024 at 5:00 p.m.	Revised/final project applications due in e-snaps
December 11, 2024 at 8:00 p.m.	Homeless Strategy Division staff will submit the CoC-Board-approved Consolidated Application prior to this final HUD deadline

Please visit the Funding Opportunities page of the City of Asheville’s website to read more about the CoC Program Funding Competition.

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
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