Five Myths About Housing and Hunger
The things we hear most about homelessness and hunger in Buncombe County, each one set against the county's own numbers. Sourced, dated, checkable.
Most arguments about who ends up on the street, or who runs out of food before the end of the month, run on assumptions about character. The data tell a steadier story, and it is mostly about arithmetic: what people earn, set against what they are charged for a roof and a meal.
Here are five things we hear often, and what the county's own figures actually say.
“People are homeless here because of addiction and mental illness.”
The factNot mainly. Addiction and mental illness are real, and they make it harder to stay housed. But they are not what sets the size of the problem. The 2026 Point-in-Time count found 824 people homeless in Buncombe County on a single night. Of them, 91 reported a mental-health condition and 62 reported substance use, both self-reported. The far larger force is a housing market that leaves almost nothing affordable at the bottom.
“If you hold down a job, you can afford a place.”
The factNot at the wages most jobs pay here. It takes about $29.08 an hour to afford a modest two-bedroom in the metro, and $25.90 for a one-bedroom. A single adult's living wage in Buncombe is $24.10 an hour. The median home price was about $500,000 in May 2026. A steady paycheck is not the same as an affordable one.
“They come here from somewhere else for the services.”
The factThey don't. Most people counted in the 2026 Point-in-Time count reported they were last housed right here in Buncombe County, not drawn in from elsewhere. Homelessness is mostly local. People lose housing in the same community where they already live. The shortage is the cause, and the shortage was made here. Nationally, there are just 35 affordable, available homes for every 100 of the lowest-income renters, so there is nowhere lower-cost to land.
“Food banks have hunger covered.”
The factNot on their own. Food banks are essential, and they cannot cover hunger alone. The numbers say why. About 29,000 Buncombe residents rely on SNAP, the federal grocery benefit. When that benefit paused for six weeks in late 2025, local charity could soften the blow but came nowhere close to replacing it. And SNAP itself does not reach everyone who struggles: an estimated 21 million food-insecure Americans, more than two in five, likely earn too much to qualify.
“Hunger is a downtown problem.”
The factIt gets worse the moment the city ends. Nearly nine in ten of the U.S. counties with the worst food insecurity are rural. In Buncombe, about 11.9 percent of residents, roughly 31,670 people, are food insecure, and that figure is based on 2021 data, so it is a low estimate. Drive twenty minutes out of Asheville and the share on food assistance climbs.
The thread through all five: homelessness and hunger are set less by anyone's character than by how far local wages fall behind local rents and grocery bills. That shortfall is a policy choice, which means it can be changed.
When you read the local numbers instead of the stereotypes, the same cause keeps surfacing in two places: a housing market and a grocery bill that outrun local wages. Charity takes the edge off. It does not change the count. What changes the count is the homes we build and the benefits we fund. Five claims, one test, the county's own numbers, and not one of them holds up.
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