'Everybody needs a home': New federal policy threatens to slash funding for permanent housing for homeless

https://avlwatchdog.org/everybody-needs-a-home-new-federal-policy-threatens-to-slash-funding-for-permanent-housing-for-homeless/

Housing First is the most effective path to end homelessness, advocates say; HUD’s secretary says it is financed by a “slush fund”

by DAN DeWITT
November 26, 2025

Beverly Nowling, sitting in a wheelchair outside the ART Transit Station on Coxe Avenue last week, recounted her decades of homelessness – couch surfing with friends and family, sleeping outside or in her car.

That life ended nearly five years ago, when she moved into an apartment in the Emma neighborhood paid for by Homeward Bound of Western North Carolina and a share of her monthly Social Security disability checks.

The 56-year-old’s place isn’t perfect, but her complaints about its mildew problems are with her landlord, not the housing nonprofit, which she called “my rock … my advocate … my voice.”

She has bonded with her caseworker, who connects her with mental health counseling and treatment for health issues ranging from type 2 diabetes to COPD, she said. She had high praise for her caseworker’s supervisor, Michael Tingley. “That man is on the ball,” she said.

Without the help of Homeward Bound – and with the sky-high rents in Buncombe County – there’s no doubt how she would be spending the upcoming holiday season, she said.

“I would just have to live outside. I would just have to use blankets. That’s the only way I could survive.”

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