Here's the press release from Homeward Bound:

Homeward Bound Awarded Grant from Mission Hospital

As an affirmation of their ongoing partnership, the Community Benefit Program of Mission Hospital has just awarded a grant of $22,500 to Homeward Bound. The grant will fund Homeward Bound’s Chronic Homeless Housing Program, which has received national recognition from the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness and is a key component of the community’s 75% reduction in chronic homelessness.

Through this program, chronically homeless individuals are prioritized for public housing through the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, where they receive case management support from Homeward Bound for, at minimum, their first year in housing. To date the program has housed 72 individuals and has a 93% housing retention rate. Much of the program’s success is due to its collaborative nature; the Housing Authority of the City of Asheville, Buncombe County, City of Asheville, Community Foundation of WNC, and Western Highlands Network are all partners in this program that is quickly becoming a model of how a community works together to end chronic homelessness.

The Community Benefit Program of Mission Hospital has awarded the grant to directly support Homeward Bound’s services, which have proven to be the key intervention that keeps chronically homeless individuals in housing. Once housed, individuals’ health begins to stabilize, resulting in decreased use of emergency services and increased use of more appropriate, and less costly, forms of healthcare. The Community Benefit Program of Mission Hospital supports Homeward Bound in recognition of the program’s effectiveness in ending homelessness as well as reducing medical expenses to the community.

Brian Alexander, Executive Director of Homeward Bound, said, “This grant allows us to provide more support to keep vulnerable people in housing, and it’s also a testament to the strong community partnerships we’re building. We end homelessness at Homeward Bound, but we’ve got to have community investment to increase our capacity to meet the need, and that’s what Mission Hospital has provided through this grant.”

Homeward Bound of Asheville, Inc. is a local nonprofit that seeks to end homelessness in Asheville and Buncombe County through its five programs: the A HOPE Day Center; PATH; Room in the Inn; HOPE to HOME; and Pathways to Permanent Housing. Each program is designed to lead the clients it serves out of homelessness and into permanent housing and to provide the relational and practical support they need to stabilize once housed. To learn more about Homeward Bound, visit www.hbofa.org.