Asheville homelessness debate returns as county prepares updated figures

Asheville’s downtown safety fight flared again just as council prepared to review new homelessness numbers, with a national article calling downtown unsafe and local leaders pointing to a much more complicated picture: 824 people counted as unhoused across Buncombe County, 334 of them unsheltered.

The city said the 2025 point-in-time count, completed Jan. 28, 2025, used 135 volunteers, including 60 Continuum of Care members, and found 755 people experiencing homelessness in Buncombe County, up from 739 in 2024. Of the 328 people counted without shelter, 116, or 35%, said Tropical Storm Helene was the reason. The broader federal reporting framework also counted 1,548 people in FEMA Transitional Sheltering Assistance hotels and motels, underscoring how much of the local housing strain shifted into temporary placements.

The debate is playing out on Asheville’s streets as well as in City Hall. Ginger Sharp, who said she was living in a tent in the River Arts District, pushed back on the national portrayal. Clark Hollins, longtime owner of Hearn’s Cycling & Fitness, said the article “kind of misrepresents downtown,” while Asheville Coalition for Public Safety chair Honor Moor said residents still report frequent safety complaints. Former Council Member Carl Mumpower defended the article, and longtime Asheville resident and former restaurant owner Mark Rosenstein called it one-sided, saying homelessness and affordability problems had been building for years. Council member Bo Hess said leaders had not defunded or dismantled police and were focused on downtown vagrancy as tourism slowly returned after Helene.

For Eric Jackson, who chairs the Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care’s system performance committee, the central problem is still shelter beds and affordable housing, not a sensational headline. That is the calculation now facing council as it weighs funding, shelter capacity and public messaging in a city where homelessness has become one of the most visible and politically charged aftereffects of Helene.