Asheville Mayor: Homelessness 'crisis' signals need for outside consultant, RFPs now open

Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, calling the city's homeless issue a "crisis," says the time has come for the city to seek outside help in the form of a homeless services consultant, while critics argue that the idea is more of the same in a yearslong effort to address the humanitarian problem.

As advocates continue to push for solutions, and city experts anticipate rising numbers in Asheville's unsheltered residents, the city is now searching for a homeless services consultant, intended to create an actionable plan to address homelessness in Asheville. 

On Feb. 14, the city of Asheville, in partnership with Buncombe County, released a request for proposals to hire a consultant who will conduct a comprehensive analysis of unsheltered homelessness and develop recommendations. 

A three-way collaboration, the consultant's work will be funded by Dogwood Health Trust. The city will be the administrative and contracting point of contact.

The deadline for submissions is March 18, and the city will tentatively award the contract on April 22. 

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“This is going to take a holistic look at this whole continuum of care," Manheimer said. She said the RFP has been handled at a staff level but hopes the collaboration is a step toward a big picture solution. 

"To me, we have a homelessness crisis in Asheville. It has been exacerbated by COVID. It had always been there, but it is so much more visible,” Manheimer said. 

“All of that is happening, and we have got to figure out how to coordinate ourselves as a community to address this.” 

Emily Ball, homeless services system performance lead for the city, said neither a budget nor a timeline is set for the project, but the city is asking for proposals to include both a cost estimate and a projected timeline. 

Though those factors will be evaluated as criteria during the selection process, she said they are weighted less heavily than the other three factors. 

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In priority order, evaluation criteria includes: 

• Overall understanding of the project and demonstrated ability to perform scope of work.
• Qualifications and relevant experience of applicant.
• Project approach.
• Project cost.
• Timeframe for delivery of final report.

"Our primary goal is to work with an experienced consultant who understands our needs and can best partner with our community to develop an effective strategy," Ball said. 

While Manheimer called the RFP an opportunity to solidify "all the little spokes on your wheel," Kevin Mahoney, a community health worker and peer support specialist, worried it was indicative of the city instead trying to "recreate the wheel" rather than moving directly into solutions. 

"I've seen many cycles of this," he said of the RFP. "It's tiring ... my heart sunk a little bit, going 'here we go again.'" 

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The 2021 Point in Time count, the new dashboard, which can be found  at www.ashevillenc.gov, identified 527 people experiencing homelessness in Asheville.

The 2022 Point in Time Count happened in January, and the dashboard will be updated to reflect that data later this spring. 

After the recent count, Ball said she anticipates an increase in unsheltered residents. 

While he is trying to have hope, Mahoney said he is turning his attention to immediate, local solutions such as lobbying for a designated camping area in the city, shying away from "higher end" concepts in favor of action.

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A quick pivot 

Mahoney's concerns are heightened by the city's recent partnership with two California-based companies who plan to turn East Asheville's Ramada Inn into permanent supportive housing. 

This move came after the city canceled plans in December to convert the hotel into a low-barrier homeless shelter, a plan that drew ire from the hotel's neighbors and uncertainty from financial partners, like the county and Dogwood. 

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Though Manheimer said people may "roll their eyes" at the city's decision to pursue a consultant, she said this is an opportunity to find new solutions that will best fit the city landscape, exploring new and innovative efforts. 

"If we had all the answers, we would have figured this out by now," she said. "But we don't. ... They are going to look at this all the way across, is my understanding, and see, you know, what is going to be the best approach?" 

Sarah Grymes, vice president of Impact for Housing with Dogwood, said part of the organization's work to address the health and well-being in the region includes making sure partners have a solid foundation of planning and research to inform their solutions. 

"For example, we invested to help counties and cities prepare to receive ARPA funds for affordable housing and use them strategically," Grymes said in an emailed statement. "In the same way, our support of the City and County’s use of this consultant will help ensure that their approach to addressing homelessness is as effective and sustainable as possible."

The RFP 

According to a city news release, the the consultant will engage with local stakeholders, including people who are unsheltered, service providers, neighborhoods, and business and faith communities, to meet two primary goals. 

The first is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of unsheltered homelessness across the county to understand the size and unmet needs of the unsheltered community. 

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The second is to develop recommended, actionable plans for addressing the unsheltered homeless problem that may include concrete proposals — including estimates of required capital investments, ongoing operational costs, funding models and an operating partner assessment.

Ultimately, the consultant's report would be used to obtain funding, select models to implement, outline the public benefit of meeting the needs of this population and provide staff and the client team with a basis for the development of resources, including funding and partnerships required for next steps.

Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky.