More than 200,000 of our Western NC neighbors face food insecurity — and Helene pushed thousands more out of stable housing. Will you step up to help?
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Buncombe CountyWhat the county funds for housing and food, and what it turns away City of AshevilleWhere your city tax dollars go in FY2027 Buncombe CountyWhere your county tax dollars go in FY2027

Learn about these issues

Independent background reads, briefs, and stories. Open in a new tab.

Start here · Housing How to Think About Homelessness Six short essays · the place to begin Start here · Food How to Think About Food Insecurity Five short pieces · the place to begin
Browse the whole library as a map41 reads & pages, by topic
Housing & homelessness20
History & origins
How Modern Homelessness Was Made It Wasn't the Asylums The Shortage Was Made Here America Didn't Always Have This Problem
How it works
Who, and How Many That Wouldn't Be Me Which Came First
Housing First evidence
What Housing First Can and Cannot Do The 92 Percent Who Stayed The Count Is Rising. The Money Is Already Here.
Cost & employer case
The Business Case for Housing 1,200 New Hotel Rooms. Nobody to Staff Them. Same Neighbor. Different Money. Two Buildings, One Block Apart
Policy & law (2025-26)
The Housing Law and the Flood Strings Attached Can They Charge the Shelter? A Ban Is Not a Bed
Local institutions & news
What Happened to Asheville Housing The Cooldown That Skips Us
Food & hunger10
Primer & scale
How to Think About Food Insecurity Why Food Banks Can't Fix Hunger The People Just Above the Line
Who & where it hides
Rural Hunger Is the Real Story Hungry Kids Don't Show It The Last Mile to a Senior's Door
Aid & data
29,000 Neighbors, One Pause When the Aid Stops Why the Hunger Numbers Are Two Years Old
Resilience case study
The Day MANNA Lost Everything
The bridge: both at once7
Systems & data
Food and Shelter Are the Same Emergency Before the Tent Two Shortages, One Budget Myth vs. Fact: Housing and Hunger
Composite stories
Rent or Eat Between Jobs By the Time You See Me
First Person4 What the Belt Measures first-person, the AHope day center Before the Door first-person reflection Why I Built This why Tim built this The Staff Is Mostly Software how this site is made