Sounds like "growing city" problems more than anything. The article made it sound like it was WW3 up in there. 11 murders this year? That's a normal weekend in Charlotte it seems like lately.
best evaluated on a per capita basis. there was a time when Albany, GA was the per capita murder capital of the US. Only reason I know that is I went to college with a bunch of people from Albany, many of whom had t-shirts proclaiming their hometown the murder capital of the USA.
Both of these are true.
It's getting worse (although again, much of the violent crime involves the same people predating on one another, fueled by alcohol, meth and other drugs, mental illness), and it's not WW III.
Asheville city's population was ~94.6k per the 2020 census. Per estimates, it's now ~96.8k, although I have no clue what magick is used to project population growth. I also have no clue how many, or any, of the homeless are included in these figures, especially since the 2020 census occurred during Covid.
The number of homeless here currently is around 640, of whom around 230 are unsheltered, meaning that they are living in informal camps, sleeping in doorways, etc. Last year, the count was 527 homeless (so a 21% increase in a year) and 116 unsheltered (so a
100% increase in people choosing not to stay in shelters - yes, there is room in the shelters.) Most of those fleeing domestic abuse are sheltered and awaiting safe and permanent housing. The VA has housing for homeless veterans, again leading to permanent housing. I used to work with (= track numbers, etc.) for VA groups working with homeless veterans. One very real factor in chronic homelessness is addiction, with or without accompanying mental illness. The "only mentally ill" are generally easier to eventually get off the streets, once their psychiatric issues are under treatment. (
No one wants to live in the terror of being an untreated schizophrenic, even though the disease sometimes makes them stop treatment temporarily.) But the "dual-diagnosis" - mental illness + substance abuse/ addiction; boy howdy. The unending self-destruction makes it so hard for them to change their lives. I could never do what social workers and others do in attempting to interact with these guys (mostly guys, some women.) I don't have the strength to go through daily heartbreak.
Back to the crime stuff, the unsheltereds' impact on the rest of Asheville is mostly in the "vagrancy" category - hassling by panhandlers, trash (including human waste, broken bottles, used needles), vandalism, car break-ins. None of which is great by any means, but we are not (currently) living the zombie apocalypse. More like having an ongoing really-badly-run music festival taking place, but without the music.
And then, separately, are the crimes - much more violent - accompanying the business (in the literal sense) of serious drug dealing: murders, human trafficking (sexual and otherwise), family disruption, turf wars taking place among low-income people just trying to get by, get a job, and get their kids grown. Some of their casualties wind up in the homeless group.
Anyway, blah blah blah, just some commentary that as with almost everything in life, things are generally more complex that can be summarized in a 2:30 minute news clip or 500-word article, even when the writers are trying to be fair and dispassionate.
I'd REALLY like to get off this subject, if we could. And thanks for erebody staying reasonably calm.
, and Chad Nesbitt is a tub-thumping nutball, JMO. One thing to remember about presenting changes in terms of percentages is that it dramatizes increases from previous relatively low numbers. 11 murders through August or whatever are 11 too many, but a lot of cities would be grateful to have only that many. But this is what journalism has devolved to these days. Click-bait for all.
