Our Impact: 2024
Homeward Bound was founded in 1987 with a focus on ending homelessness in Buncombe County. Since adopting the Housing First model in 2006, we’ve moved 2,648+ individuals into safe, stable housing.
Housing First
Homeward Bound’s work is anchored in the Housing First model, a national best practice offering permanent housing and supportive services without preconditions. It’s based on overwhelming evidence that people experiencing homelessness can achieve stability and thrive through flexible, individualized supporter, client choice, and autonomy. The result: higher housing retention rates, reduced reliance on costly crisis services and institutions, and improved health and social outcomes for our neighbors across Buncombe County.
96.5%
In 2024 alone, our Permanent Supportive Housing programs had a 96.5% retention rate of individuals not returning to homelessness and taking steps to rebuild their lives as neighbors in our community.
In 2024, we ended homelessness for:
43 unique individuals
21 veterans
We prevented homelessness for:
83 individuals
We provided housing assistance to:
66 households through the NC Healthy Opportunities Pilot
Our Landlord Partnership Program provides stable housing to those in our community. In 2024, the program resulted in:
56 leases
127 landlord partnerships
AHOPE: A much-needed respite
Our AHOPE Day Center delivers critical client services Monday-Friday, providing a place for hundreds of our unhoused neighbors to pick up mail, store their possessions, take a shower, and more. As the front door to our housing services, we connect people who are homeless to housing and also help divert people from homelessness by finding relatives or friends who can house them or referring them to needed resources. In 2024:
1,548
unique individuals served
Thousands
of showers, cups of coffee and pairs of socks provided
Outreach
At Homeward Bound, we go where the need is – people living on the streets, in cars, under bridges, and in campsites – and connect them to the medical, mental health, substance-use disorder services, permanent housing resources, emergency shelters and basic needs services.
123 served by our Outreach team
Compass Point Village
Compass Point Village, the largest program of its kind in WNC, provides 85 permanent supportive housing apartments and on-site behavioral health services, case management, and job training for individuals who’ve experienced chronic homelessness in our community. Hear from our Permanent Supportive Housing Director, Jenny Moffatt at the One Year Anniversary of Compass Point Village!
Welcome Home Donation Center
Our donation center provides household supplies and gently-used furnishings to make a house a home for those transitioning out of homelessness. In 2024:
88
homes were made
$101,392
in household items/furnishings donated
“It puts a ‘little bean of hope’ in their day“
Chayse is one of the most resilient people I’ve met, and her journey is a powerful testament to determination and self-growth. Her story takes us through her experiences crisscrossing the country aboard trains, finding shelter wherever she could—including rooftops and under bridges during record snow-falls and heat waves—to earning her GED, pursuing a degree in human services at AB-Tech, and working toward a career as a case manager to support people she personally knows who are still homeless today. Read her full story here.
Get Involved
Volunteer
A variety of opportunities provide volunteers a meaningful experience in support of our mission to end homelessness.
Donate Items
The items you donate help both our neighbors currently living on the streets as well as those transitioning into a home.
Donate
No matter how much you give, every dollar works hard to provide the services necessary to fulfill the mission of ending homelessness in our community.
Be a Business Sponsor
Partnering with Homeward Bound as a business sponsor is a win/win for our clients and your organization.