From Staff Reports 

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Homelessness in Buncombe County skyrocketed to a record high in 2026, according to the latest Point-in-Time count.

“According to data from the point-in-time count, 824 people are experiencing homelessness in 2026, a 9.1 percent increase from 2025,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported on March 27. “Of these 824 individuals, 334 are unsheltered, a 1.8 percent increase from the previous year.”

News 13 added, “The Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care says the count was done back on Feb. 10, when more than 100 volunteers identified people experiencing homelessness across Buncombe County.”

The big jump was driven primarily by the catastrophic impact of Tropical Storm Helene, which severely exacerbated an already critical shortage of affordable housing, coupled with already-high area housing costs, local officials said.

“Nearly 500 other unhoused individuals are receiving shelter or are in transitional housing, data shows,” News 13 noted. “Due to a new emergency shelter and added beds in the county, the number of unhoused people using transitional housing has increased significantly this year.

“Data also shows that the unhoused population in the county is 86 percent individuals and 14 percent families with children.

“Many of the unhoused people in Buncombe County are disabled, veterans, adults with a mental health condition, adults with a substance use disorder, and/or survivors of domestic violence, data shows.”

More than 250 of Buncombe’s homeless residents are chronically homeless, according to the early 2026 point-in-time count.

News 13 added, “Of the respondent data, 87 surveyed people said they lost housing due to Hurricane Helene. Only 26 of the 87 respondents said they’ve had temporary housing since the storm.

“The point-in-time report says research shows that factors like addiction or mental illness can predict a loss of housing, but do not drive the community rate. Asheville-Buncombe CoC representatives said this year’s increase is mainly due to Helene and a lack of affordable housing.”

To that end, News 13 quoted CoC system performance committee chair Eric Jackson as asking, rhetorically, “What does it cost to afford a two-bedroom apartment versus what do people make? They don’t match, and so you’ve got lots of people who are sitting one problem away from disaster,” 

Helene heavily impacted unsheltered homelessness last year, directly contributing to a 50 percent increase, Buncombe CoC representatives said.

News 13’s “Comment Bubble” appearing after its story included the following assertions:

• LakeLife24 — “When your city’s number one priority is to turn local hotels — in one of your main business districts — into free housing for the homeless, that’s a problem. Or meeting sites next to some of the most beautiful Airbnb’s downtown for needle exchange programs, that’s a problem. For the last ten (at least) years, the City Council has made the ‘homeless’ — now ‘(called)‘unhoused’ — the focus of our community. They have actually encouraged them to come here with all of the programs they offer. Why do you think so many small businesses have suffered and continue to shut down? We are far from Helene. Downtown is a mess. Crime is not created from a hurricane. It’s created from the so-called leaders in charge who have allowed this garbage to go on for years.” 

• WAVLNATIVE — “Thank the mayor next time you see her! She will appreciate it, I’m sure!”

• ruralliving — “Now tell us again that Asheville is on a list of ‘Best Places to Live...’”

• john236 — “Best places in Western North Carolina.. to be homeless and addicted to drugs”

• TrumperThumper — “Busy with that new account?”

• ruralliving — “Very busy. Hard for us bots to keep up with your ridiculousness. How are you enjoying the extra 1000-sq.-ft. of home Buncombe wants to tax you for?”

• EHemingway — “No defense of the homeless issue?” 

• gardenwitch — “This has everything to do with permissive laws & handouts. Moved out of WNC (life-long resident) to a city with less tolerance… and guess what? There are NOT encampments on every corner, panhandlers, or open air drug markets.” 

• MCS77 — “What a silly article. Everyone knows the homeless epidemic in Asheville is intentional and facilitated by our current City Council / elected officials. They could easily clean the streets up with a few simple policy changes. Make trespassing/ loitering/ open air drug use illegal — empower the APD to actually do their jobs and our streets would be cleaned up on a matter of months. THEN — with the criminals off the streets, we could actually identify help those that are really in need.  Don’t believe me? Go to DT Greenville, S.C. It’s what Asheville could — and should — be. The real question is — why do the powers-that-be insist on keeping it this way?”  

• JohnGalt828 — “If you are serious about improving your situation, you would move to a location that is more affordable.” 

• NCIDdoesntmakeyoulocal — “Weekly shootings, record homelessness, lack of family supporting jobs, crippling debt and overinflated property values, yet folks just keep voting for extremely liberal leadership and expecting different results.” 

• Straightup1 — “That’s it in a nutshell.”

• Trump312...Harris226 — “Homelessness in Buncombe County hits record high, driven by drug addiction and mental illness.There, I fixed it for you.'

• john236 — “It’s hitting a record high because this is a destination place to be a drug addict and homeless period. just like the Tenderloin (district) in the San Francisco is a destination place for drugs Asheville has become the exact same thing when you have outreach programs that make it easy on people to be homeless and you have (a) ‘light on crime’ DA, where he doesn’t think it’s a crime to do drugs. Then you have a recipe for individuals that are hooked on a drug — and the best place for them to be to do drugs is Asheville.”