This is the official website for Homeward Bound of WNC, Inc.
If you receive any emails referencing HBOFA.org, ignore any requests and notify us immediately. Please forward the email to eleanor@homewardboundwnc.orgWe hope you have found our website to be informative and useful!
Below you will find email forms for:
- Get Help
- See the Hope Tour
- PATH Outreach
- Donation Pick Up
- Veterans Housing Services
- Landlords
- Community Presentations
- Newsletter Sign up
Fill out these forms and you will be connected directly with the Team Member who can help.
Below are maps to our:
- AHOPE Center
- Welcome Home Donation Center
Thank you!
Get in Touch. Get Involved.
37 Montford Ave Asheville, NC 28801
Call Us: (828) 252-8883
Why should I care about homelessness?
- Ethically, practically, and financially, ending it makes our community a better place.
- When we end homelessness, we see resources freed up to meet other needs, local businesses and tourism faring better, and our neighbors restored to lives of wholeness and dignity.
- It’s a public health problem. People who are homeless often have to relieve themselves outside. They lack access to health care and often have chronic illnesses, made worse by tough living conditions: sleeping outside in all weather, eating low-quality foods, and being in close quarters with unhealthy people.
- Homelessness is an economic problem. People without housing consume a lot of public resources and generate expense for the community. In our tourism-driven economy, homelessness can be a deterrent to downtown visitors.
- Homelessness is a human problem. Our own neighbors live in tents and under bridges, vulnerable to inclement weather and violence, stripped of dignity and our collective respect. At Homeward Bound, we believe a safe, decent, and affordable home is a basic human right.
Our WHY
Solving homelessness begins with understanding it- Our Why. Here are some of the questions we often get and our answers. If we haven’t addressed your question, please contact us.
If you are experiencing homelessness in WNC, we can help.
PATH Outreach
If you know of someone living outside and experiencing mental illness, please fill out the referral form below. Please note this is NOT a form for self-referral. If you, your family, or someone you know well is experiencing homelessness, please visit our AHOPE Day Center at 19 N. Ann St. in downtown Asheville or call 828.252.8883.
Take our “See the Hope Tour”
See the Hope Tours run every Thursday from 11 am – 12:15 pm, the second Tuesday of each month from 5:30 – 6:45 pm, and the third Wednesday of each month from 8:30 – 9:45 am.
Give items to the Welcome Home Donation Center
Give your clean and gently-used furniture and household items to the Welcome Home Center so we can help others experience the comforts of home. Your donations go directly to women, men, and children moving into new homes or are used at our Day Center. Donation receipts are available upon request. We make it easy to give items.
Veterans Housing Services Program
Since its inception our Veterans Housing Services Program has housed over 230 veterans and family members and prevented more than 40 from becoming homeless.
Landlords – Help us end homelessness one home at a time
Landlords play a key role in helping us end homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County.
- Fill vacant units without the hassle of adverting
- Homeward Bound can pay double security deposits
- Tenants receive ongoing case management support
Community Presentations
Don’t be shy – Join Us!
AHOPE Day Center
AHOPE Day Center
Welcome Home Donation Center
Welcome Home Donation Center
92 cents of every dollar goes directly to end homelessness
Donate Today
A monthly gift allows you to spread the financial impact of your giving across the entire year, lessening a one-time drain on your resources. Also, recurring gifts help Homeward Bound as we can more accurately predict income in advance, which helps with longer range budgeting and decision-making.
Donate
Volunteers help us end homelessness
Come volunteer with us
Come volunteer with us! We offer service experiences for individuals, faith communities, businesses, and schools and youth groups. Volunteers help us end homelessness in our region by helping provide much-needed services to people transitioning into a home.
Volunteer
Contribute to a Cause
Give
Your clean and gently used household items can help others experience the comforts of home. Your donations go directly to women, men, and children moving in to new homes or are used at our Day Center. Donation receipts are available upon request.
Give
Our Stories
Some of them even Hollywood wouldn’t believe.
Homeward Bound of WNC is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit agency working in Buncombe County. We end homelessness by moving people into permanent housing and providing the support that they need to stay there.
Our Why
and our commitment to ending WNC homelessness
Our mission is working with others to end the cycle of homelessness.
Homeward Bound began in 1988 as Hospitality House, opening its doors to serve the growing homeless population through long-term emergency shelter. In 2006, Hospitality House became Homeward Bound of WNC, and shifted its focus from managing homelessness with shelter to ending homelessness with permanent housing, utilizing the best practice model of Housing First.
We are the community leader in best practices to end homelessness, and have been using the Housing First model since 2006. The Housing First model has been proven to be the most effective, cost-efficient, sustainable, and humane intervention to homelessness. Essentially this means people experiencing homelessness are housed as quickly as possible and offered case management services to provide support and resources to help maintain housing stability.
Since 2006, we have moved over 1,800 men, women, and children out of cars, camps, and shelters into permanent housing. We have an 89 percent retention rate in housing.
OUR VISION
We envision a day when the poor and vulnerable among us will no longer be ignored but treated with compassion and decency. We envision a day when any homeless person, regardless of psychiatric disabilities, substance abuse problems, medical issues, or financial poverty, can move directly into service-enriched permanent housing and become a productive member of society.
OUR VALUES
- We believe in the absolute value and worth of every single human being.
- We believe that housing is a basic human right, integral to self-worth and dignity.
- We believe that homelessness is a solvable problem.
- We believe that all services should be offered with respect and empathy, in the spirit of hope and recovery.
- We believe that we are successful as an organization when one individual takes one step forward on the journey home.
A Conversation with Sarah and Cindy
Cindy and Sarah are an excellent example of the journey of Homeward Bound of WNC Case Managers’ and someone experiencing homelessness. Watch this amazing success story of moving into a new home and staying. A big thanks to Amplified Media for their excellent work on this and the other Homeward Bound of WNC Success Story’s.
Get in Touch. Get Involved.
37 Montford Ave Asheville, NC 28801
Call Us: (828) 252-8883
News & Updates
Homeward Bound’s Call for Change
Nationally, African Americans accounted for 40 percent of all people experiencing homelessness in 2019 despite being 13% of the population. This is just one of the many symptoms of institutional racism and economic and racial inequity. We believe in the absolute value...
Asheville-Buncombe 2020 Point-in-Time count completed
As part of the nationwide 2020 Point-in-Time (PIT) count, the Asheville-Buncombe County Homeless Initiative has completed its report of the community’s one-night count of individuals and families experiencing homelessness. The final report was submitted to the U.S....
Sheltered Community in Harrah’s Cherokee Center Move to Hotel
José Valadez looks over the balcony at the Red Roof Inn in Asheville on Tuesday. Valadez is a client of Homeward Bound, which began housing otherwise homeless clients at the motel during the coronavirus pandemic this week. Photo by Jacob Biba, courtesy of Carolina...