Asheville’s homeless population has grown 53% from 2020 to 2025, according to data from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Local poverty educator and community advocate Kelly Redfern has seen the rise firsthand — and she’s not convinced that existing data has captured the true extent of the problem.
Specifically, she cites concerns about the method used to count homeless residents by the Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care, a collaborative body created in 2024…