City Changes Plans for Ramada Inn Property at River Ridge on Fairview Road
A year ago, in response to a critical and urgent need to provide shelter for unhoused residents, the City of Asheville created an emergency shelter at the former Ramada Inn in the River Ridge Plaza off Fairview Road.
A year ago, in response to a critical and urgent need to provide shelter for unhoused residents, the City of Asheville created an emergency shelter at the former Ramada Inn in the River Ridge Plaza off Fairview Road.
The city began sheltering unhoused people in hotels during the pandemic, successfully helping to slow the spread of Covid-19 while also connecting the homeless community with needed services and permanent housing.
However, after receiving negative feedback from the community and hearing from social service agencies that a more extensive planning process is needed, the city decided not to pursue a long-term emergency shelter at that location. Instead it will begin a new planning process, in partnership with both the community and other funders, to fulfill both emergency and longer-term housing needs for the people currently housed there as well as others in the homeless population.
Property will support permanent supportive housing
The city voted 6-1 on Dec. 14 to assign the real estate contracts for the Ramada Inn to Shangri-La Industries to turn the property into permanent supportive housing. That designation refers to affordability combined with connections to services that help people stay in housing: healthcare, substance abuse treatment, and employment. Such support systems are key to helping people who are coming out of homelessness transition into housing. Shangri-La, which contracts to provide such services, is based in Los Angeles, where it has come under fire for profiting off the needs of the homeless.
Council also approved a resolution “authorizing the City Manager to enter into an American Rescue Plan-funded agreement with Step Up on Second Street, Inc.” in the amount of $1.5 million to provide three years of those supportive services at the former Ramada Inn site.
Councilwoman Antanette Mosley voted against these two resolutions, though she did vote, along with the rest of Council, to keep the currently housed individuals in their rooms through March 31, 2022.
City commits to solving issue of homelessness
According to its website, the City of Asheville “believes that having a well-functioning homeless services system is crucial to end homelessness. This includes interventions like preventing homelessness, providing temporary shelter, and transitioning people into permanent housing.”
To that end, the Council also voted 6-1 (again, with Mosley opposed) to allocate $2,056,000 from ARPA funds to pay for the $1.5-million grant to Step Up on Second Street, Inc., plus the cost of room nights in the hotel until March 31, 2022 ($366,000), and a contract amendment with Sunrise Community for Recovery & Wellness for accompanying supportive services in the amount of $190,000.
So, although the original plan for the Ramada to become an emergency shelter has been shelved, the city will continue to “work with its partners to create an emergency high-access shelter” elsewhere, while housing those in need of supported permanent housing at the Ramada site.
