During a “Homeless Issues Panel Discussion” in Asheville on April 5, panelist Micheal Woods took a contentious stance when he said that, given Asheville’s ranking as the state’s city with the highest average rent, it might not be the best place to live for some of the city’s homeless residents.

What’s more, Woods castigated the individuals and groups who supply Asheville’s homeless drug addicts with “syringes and NARCAN,” thinking they are helping when, instead, in his view, they are serving as enablers — or worse.

Woods is the executive director of Western Carolina Rescue Ministries, located at 225 Patton Ave in downtown Asheville.

His remarks were made during an early-morning breakfast meeting of the Council of Independent Business Owners at UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center. About 100 people attended the panel discussion that was followed by a question-and-answer session — all of which lasted about an hour. CIBO President Buzzy Cannady served as the moderator.

The other panelists included Scott Rogers, executive director of the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry, better known by the acronym of the ABCCM; and Rick Freeman, president of the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods, a member of the Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee, and a Continuum of Care Board nominee.

Rogers, who spoke first,  noted, “It’s a joy to share about the great work that’s being done throughout our community. Homelessness has captured our imagination and attention for a good while now....”

Rogers added that ABCCM began as a small collaboration of churches in 1969 and, as noted on its website, “has played a significant role in meeting emergency assistance needs for families in crisis, coordinating religious services and education activities at the jail, providing transitional and permanent supportive housing of the homeless through 300 beds” — a number that will be increasing.

As for homelessness in Asheville, he said, “We (who work with the homeless) were asked a simple question: ‘Are y’all doing the same thing — or working together?’ 

“The answer was: ‘We are all serving different parts of the community.’ ABCCM said we would primarily take care of veterans and women with children....

“In 2018, we achieved functional zero for veterans…. Meaning we had enough beds to take in veterans and send them out when they were ready” to make it on their own.

“What we were building and tracking throughout that process — was very much a multi-tiered approach... We still have the capacity for 40 emergency shelter beds....

“We have the ‘rapid-rehousing’ model. We will gladly help someone rapidly ‘re-house.’ We have a hospital-to-home program. We’ve got a clincial treatment program. We’ve got a mental health program. We’ve got permanent supportive housing on-site....”

What’s more, Rogers said, “Eight out of 10 leave us and they don’t come back to homelessness. ‘Eight out of 10’ is the only number I want you to remember today... We also have a third program now for civilian men — it’s a recovery” facility.

At that point, Rogers asked, rhetorically, “How many ‘halfway houses’ do you think there are in Asheville?”

In answering his own question, he said “There are 73,” as some in crowd murmered — or whistled — their surprise at the number.

“We want them (the homeless) to focus on ‘the cycle of living’ — instead of  ‘side hustles,’ and other such temporary fixes, he said. “We take folks through what we call ‘steps for success.’ This is a developmental program that addresses the individual to be safe and sober. We try to remind them they can be disabled and still find a way to be productive....

“There are a few things we think are important to the solution to homelessness,” Rogers noted, as he listed the following:

• “We’ve got to come together as a community and support those programs that have the competency.” 

• “They’ve got to have the capacity,” he said in reference to ‘the shelters.’”

• “Support those programs that have outcomes you are seeking.”

At that point, Rogers asserted, “Another thing that occurred with the (Asheville) Downtown Association in 2005… was it was asking: ‘Why do you (the homeless and the homeless shelters) have to be downtown? What if you could take them out of downtown —  would you consider doing that?’”

After a pause, Rogers noted, “We said, ‘Yes.’ So that’s why various (homeless) facilities are (now located) in East Asheville and West Asheville.”

He also praised “the shared community value of folks being safe and folks being healthy... After 40 years in this, if you support lawlessness, what will result is organized lawlessness... Also, I’d ask you to support the laws on the books that support all of this... The more we can create these unique partnerships…. the better.”

After another brief pause, Rogers said, “A fourth thing is to ask (homeless) people: ‘Why are you here and where are you going?’

Also, he noted, “We need to ask the city and county leaders to identify how much money they’re going to actually put into the solution (of local homelessness). Charlotte and Raleigh and other places have identified monies to be spent on this. Here, though, there is not a simple process.”

On the bright side, Rogers concluded, “There is more capacity that can really put this solution together” in the Asheville area.

The second speaker, Woods, executive director of the Western Carolina Rescue Ministris, began by noting that “I think our homeless issue in Buncombe County is solvable.”

He added, “At the Rescue Mission, we focus on loving people — and we believe there is greatness in each and every person.”

What’s more, Woods said, “We believe in getting ‘in the mud’ with them (the homeless)... We think the affordable housing in the community is really terrible. It’s not safe. We need to fix that. If that’s going to be a source (of housing for the homeless)…. we’ve got to fix that....

“The other part of that is going to be a little bit controversial… Our ‘homelessness approach’ is sort of like an ‘open borders policy.’ I say that because the process is to spend all the money on the unhoused... 

“Just like our (national) immigration policy... it would make more sense to focus on those who have gone through the program properly — to put them in shelter. Because they’re going to be the ones who are not going to cause issues in housing...

“To me, it’s common sense…. You can’t build big enough for that....

Woods concluded his opening remarks by saying, “We’ve been devalued by the officials in the community because of how we do it... We’ve been around for 43 years (at the Rescue Mission). We love people. We serve anyone who comes to us. But we have rules. And we’re going to help those who are willing to help themselves” — and to follow the rules. 

The third and final panelist to speak was Rick Freeman, president of the Coalition of Asheville Neighborhoods and a member of the Homeless Initiative Advisory Committee and a nominiee to the Continuum of Care Board.

Freeman began by noting that he got into public service “at the tail-end of my career, I got tapped on the shoulder regarding (the) Intelligent Cities (Project).”

He noted that history shows that, “as the population moved from rural areas to cities….. the problems” worsened.

From a personal perspective, Freeman noted that “I live behind Asheville Mall” at Compass Point Village (on Tunnel Road in East Asheville). We’re at a dead end, hypothetically. (Compass Point is billed as “currently the largest permanent supportive housing initiative in Asheville,”)

As for “how I got involved in ‘homelessness’…. It was from people knocking on my door regarding what was going to happen at the Ramada Inn” at at 148 River Ford Parkway in East Asheville. 

“So we jumped in, and we lobbied against the first plan for the Ramada Inn — a low-barrier shelter. (In a “low-barrier shelter,” requirements for entry are limited or minimal.)

“When that failed, they (the City of Asheville) switched their goal” — as it pursued the opportunity to establish a permanent emergency shelter at the former hotel and entered into a contract to purchase the property — “and we lobbied against that because we think there was a lack of transparency,” Freeman said,

“While I was climbing that learning curve, I decided to bring in the National Organization to End Homelessness — and we did a deep dive. They said: ‘You know this is not right... There’s not even a (homeless) representative on the group...

“We weren’t hearing from Micheal (Woods). We weren’t hearing from Scott (Rogers)… We had a very narrow agenda... We also were told it has to be separated from politics…

“We looked at 17 or 18 cities and how they tried to manage this (homeless situation in cities)… We ultimately ended up with a model similar to Houston’s — affordable housing that gives people a place to go.... We voted that to be the charter…. so now we need to elect a board of directors....”

Freeman added, “It’s not going to be fun to show that some things didn’t work out so well. We have to build relationships between businesses, etc. We have to work together in order to make improvements.

“I’m still climbing the learning curve — like there is no tomorrow!

“I think that (Houston-influenced) model works. And I think it can work in this organization... Whoever is on (Asheville) City Council or the (Buncombe) County Board of) Commissioners are simply advisors — they don’t get to decide on spending money. Its job is to help our partners to be successful...

“The other thing the COC (the Continuum of Care board) doesn’t do is enforce the laws. We’re not going to advocate for law changes....

“So,” Freeman emphasized as he concluded his remarks, “I’m an organizational guy….. With that said, I’m done talking and let’s let the questions fly!”

Following the comments by the three panelists, a roughly 30-minute question-and-answer session was held, after which the meeting adjourned. (A story on the Q&A session begins on Page A2.)

On a related note, the Asheville Citizen Times’ story on the homelessness meeting began by referring to the “conservative Council of Independent Business Owners....”

So is CIBO “conservative?” the Daily Planet asked Patty Beaver, interim executive director of CIBO, on deadline early April 8.

“Our goal is to present both sides of issues, so that our members can take responsible” positions on the issues, Beaver replied. “I don’t think it’s inaccurate to say we’re ‘conservative,’ but it’s not a label we aspire to.”

Also, earlier at the April 5 meeting, an election of officers and board members was held, as the slate of proposed officers for the next fiscal year was presented by CIBO Vice President John Carroll on behalf of the CIBO Nominating Committee.

The officers’ slate, which was approved by acclamation at the Aprl 5 meeting, features the following:

• Officers — Buzzy Cannady, president; Josh Holmes, vice president; and Steve Foster, secretary-treasurer.

• Board members — Patrick McQuilling, Karl Koon and Mac Swicegood..