News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Camping bill targeting NC homelessness appears dead for now

Published

3 weeks ago

July 1, 2025

carolinapublicpress.org – Sarah Michels – 2025-07-01 07:24:00

by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press
July 1, 2025

On June 28, 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed cities and states to ban camping and sleeping in public. Since the landmark City of Grants Pass v. Johnson decision, over a hundred localities have passed ordinances banning homeless people from camping or sleeping in public, according to the National Homeless Law Center.

Several states, including Kentucky, Florida and Georgia, have signed statewide bans into law. North Carolina could have been next; but two days before the Supreme Court ruling’s anniversary, the legislation proposing such a ban quietly died.

Last month, House Bill 781 won the state House’s approval in a 69-42 vote that had several legislators cross party lines. But after the Senate received the bill, it sat on it until adjourning on Thursday, without even assigning it to a committee.

For the remainder of the year, the Senate will only consider policy bills related to the budget, elections or disaster recovery, per their adjournment resolution. That effectively spells the end for HB78 — at least for this session. But policies that don’t quite make it across the finish line often return in future sessions, so it may not be the last time North Carolina lawmakers see a proposed public camping and sleeping ban.

If it does make a resurgence, several advocates and municipalities told Carolina Public Press one particular aspect of the bill is unlikely to work: a provision allowing local governments to designate a property meeting certain criteria as a temporary public camping and sleeping area for people who are homeless to stay.

‘Criminalizing homelessness’ or offering guidance?

In 2023, nine out of every 10,000 North Carolinians experienced homelessness, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness. In 2024, the number of people experiencing homelessness rose 19%, according to a Department of Housing & Urban Development report.

Some areas, like Buncombe and Mecklenburg counties, have higher rates of homelessness.

North Carolina city managers and local law enforcement need help to address the growing homelessness problem, state Rep. Brian Biggs, R-Randolph, said in May when explaining House Bill 781 to fellow lawmakers.

It doesn’t “criminalize homelessness,” he said, but rather offers some beginning direction for local governments to respond.

If passed, the bill would have prohibited people from setting up tents or bedding, storing personal belongings or otherwise sleeping outdoors. Camping for recreational purposes would not have been impacted.

Under the proposal, local governments might have been sued if they allowed people to “regularly engage” in public camping or sleeping. However, each local government would have been allowed to create a temporary designated zone for people to publicly camp and sleep, as long as each area met certain criteria.

Designated zones would have had to include access to clean restrooms and running water, be safe and secure, provide access to behavioral health services, including substance abuse and mental health treatment, ban drug or alcohol use on the property, and be located in a place away from residential areas that wouldn’t negatively impact the property value of nearby property.

There was no state funding attached to the bill restricting camping and creating the designated areas restrictions.

Alyce Knaflich, founding director of a women veterans home in Asheville, doesn’t see how local governments could pay for all of this, especially considering all the rules designated zones would have needed to follow.

“I have a problem with how they’re going to arrange this,” she said. “With all the expense of making this happen, why aren’t we just providing a place, a residence to live?”

Biggs said municipalities could divert the money they’re already spending on street cleaning and emergency services related to homelessness to pay for a designated zone.

“This is not an Ozempic shot,” Biggs said. “You’re not going to lose 100 pounds taking this. It’s not going to be a fix-all, but it is guidance and gives framework for cities moving forward of how to deal with this.”

What people on the ground say about camping ban

If you want to address homelessness in any meaningful way, you’ve got to start with affordable housing, said LaTonya Agard, executive director of the North Carolina coalition to End Homelessness.

Agard is a proponent of the Housing First method, which puts people experiencing homelessness in a safe, secure, affordable place to live first, and then addresses any underlying needs.

Many people don’t realize that housing people experiencing homelessness is often less expensive than the costs associated with homelessness, like increased hospital visits and emergency services, she said.

A homeless camp in Wilmington in March 2020. File / Mark Darrough / Carolina Public Press

“People on the other end of the spectrum may say that Housing First is just a black hole where we’re throwing away money, (that) it doesn’t work,” Agard said. “It’s a shame to say that when we’ve not funded it properly.”

House Bill 781’s provision allowing local governments to create designated zones for homeless people camping seems silly to Agard. Why put millions of dollars into a temporary fix when that money could be put toward permanent solutions?

Regardless, the bill’s rules make it nearly impossible to find a space for a designated zone in the first place, she said. The area can’t be near residential property or reduce the value of commercial property, so it would have to be on the outskirts somewhere. But, it also has to be close enough to required behavioral health services, which tend to be concentrated in city centers near commercial and residential properties.

Municipalities would have to find staff, including security, to oversee the property.

The bill’s language about restrictions on these designated camping areas also perpetuates harmful stereotypes about people experiencing homelessness, Agard said.

“Having this location where people can live be a place that is not going to decrease value or make people feel unsafe or be unsafe for children, there’s an inherent bias there that really feeds into this idea that this is a group of people that need to be out of the way because they’re unsafe,” she said.

Some North Carolina local governments are not pleased with the proposal either.

In a statement to Carolina Public Press, Mecklenburg County declared its opposition to the bill, on grounds that it “would create an administrative and financial burden on local government given the requirements to provide security, sanitation, behavioral health services, and to ensure residents are not in possession of illegal substances or alcohol.”

The City of Durham’s leaders have not yet conducted any discussions to identify potential properties where a designated zone could be, but plan to strengthen their local homeless response system over the next six months, according to a statement.

Many people are one crisis away from experiencing homelessness, Knaflich said. The programs designed to help often don’t until people have already fallen off the cliff, she added.

“Everyone that becomes homeless isn’t because of drugs, alcohol or a mental health crisis,” she said. “The biggest thing is they’re financially strapped. A crisis happens medically or their car breaks down. They can’t afford to get a $5,000 transmission replaced so they don’t have a car and they can’t get to work.”

Knaflich said while the solution is clear, politicians don’t seem to understand it.

“All they see is people sleeping on the street or hanging out on the street,” she said. “They don’t know what caused that.”

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Camping bill targeting NC homelessness appears dead for now appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This content leans toward a Center-Left perspective as it emphasizes the challenges faced by people experiencing homelessness and critiques legislative efforts that appear punitive or insufficiently supportive. The article highlights the need for comprehensive solutions like affordable housing and the Housing First approach, commonly advocated by progressive and social welfare-oriented viewpoints. While it gives space to a Republican lawmaker’s perspective defending the bill, the overall framing and inclusion of concerns about criminalization and budgetary shortcomings align more with Center-Left values focused on social equity and government responsibility in addressing homelessness.

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Mobile treatment clinic providing easier access to opioid treatment

Published

13 hours ago

July 22, 2025

Staff Editor

www.youtube.com – ABC11 – 2025-07-22 09:16:18

SUMMARY: North Carolina’s First Lady launched the Unashamed NC campaign to raise awareness and reduce stigma around substance use disorder while promoting medication treatments. Mobile clinics, like Dr. Eric Morse’s new service in Wake County, provide easier access to opioid treatment medications such as methadone, free of charge and without transportation barriers. Former addict Megan Peavy shares her journey from addiction and incarceration to recovery, now advocating for awareness. Morse’s mobile clinic launched recently in Raleigh, serving 49 patients so far, with plans to expand to Granville and Franklin counties and add more city stops, improving access and support for those battling opioid addiction.

There’s a new effort — on wheels — to get potentially life-saving care to people battling addiction.

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Ask the Meteorologist: How does this summer's humidity rank with the past?

Published

13 hours ago

July 22, 2025

Staff Editor

www.youtube.com – WRAL – 2025-07-22 08:39:40

SUMMARY: Meteorologist Chris Michaels explains this summer’s humidity levels, highlighting Raleigh and Fayetteville as having the most humid summers on record, with Rocky Mount, Wilson, and Goldsboro experiencing their second most humid. This is based on dew point data from locations with over 50 years of records. The persistent high pressure near Bermuda has drawn tropical moisture into the southern and eastern U.S., combined with warm Gulf and Atlantic waters, increasing humidity. This moisture has caused nearly 3,200 flash flood warnings nationwide, including Orange County’s second wettest month on record. A humidity break is expected soon.

It’s been the most humid summer on record (so far) in the Triangle and Sandhills. But how does that humidity rank?

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News from the South - North Carolina News Feed

Warren Wilson left out of NC Helene bill. Reason unclear.

Published

14 hours ago

July 22, 2025

Staff Editor

carolinapublicpress.org – Kate Denning – 2025-07-22 08:21:00

by Kate Denning, Carolina Public Press
July 22, 2025

The most recent Helene recovery package from the state allocated $500 million to help address remaining damage to Western North Carolina, more than $4 million of which went to small private colleges and universities in the area. Even so, Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, which says it sustained $12 million in damages, yet was not on the receiving end of any financial aid from the state.

The Swannanoa Valley in eastern Buncombe County experienced significant flooding from Helene with the river cresting at 26.1 feet, the highest point since 1916. Warren Wilson Provost and Dean of the Faculty Jay Roberts said 60 campus buildings experienced either roof or flood damage. FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers helped remove 70,000 cubic yards of debris at the school. The campus did not have drinking or running water for a substantial amount of time, he said.

Warren Wilson President Damián J. Fernández issued a statement voicing his disappointment with the legislation’s exclusion of the college. He asked lawmakers to reconsider providing support when the legislature reconvenes later this month.

Montreat College, located just 12 miles east of Warren Wilson, also experienced significant damage. Its gymnasium was the most impacted, and the college estimated it would take up to eight months to restore. Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk described its damage as moderate to Carolina Public Press in October. Three of its buildings were damaged by fallen trees, including a residence hall.

But Montreat and Lees-McRae each received $1.5 million in the latest relief package. In addition, Mars Hill University received $500,000. Brevard College, Gardner-Webb University and Lenoir-Rhyne University each received $250,000.

And despite initially being allocated $1.5 million when the House appropriations committee introduced the bill in May, Warren Wilson ultimately received nothing in the final version.

State representatives in the area are saying the change-up was a political move.

When the package was on the floor for a vote June 26, when it ultimately passed unanimously, state Rep. Lindsey Prather, D-Buncombe, pointed out Warren Wilson’s lack of funding. Prather represents the 115th district, where Warren Wilson resides.

“I’m confused and I’m disappointed and I’m very frustrated,” Prather said on the floor. “It certainly feels like the institutions in Buncombe — which as a whole, received the most amount of damage — are being carved out of this bill. I hope that this isn’t politicization of recovery. It’s hard not to read it that way.”

In addition to the lack of funding to Warren Wilson, Prather said an aspect of the funding allocated to the larger public universities also struck her as odd.

Western Carolina University and Appalachian State University both received $2 million, whereas UNC-Asheville, also located in Buncombe County, has to share its $2 million with the North Carolina Arboretum. The arboretum is an affiliate of the UNC System, but is not directly under UNC-Asheville or any individual institution.

Seeing as Montreat, a conservative religious college that is also located in Buncombe County, Prather told CPP these disparities make it seem as though institutions that are perceived as more progressive are being treated unfairly.

While Warren Wilson is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and a member of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities, Roberts said he would describe the school as one with a historic religious affiliation rather than a religious college.

Warren Wilson was one of eight private colleges and universities included in the original bill proposed by the House. Johnson C. Smith University, an HBCU in Charlotte, was also initially positioned to receive $500,000 but was later removed. While Charlotte did not get the brunt of the storm, JCSU reported it had to close a residence hall due to water damage from Helene, leading the university to relocate more than 200 students.

When the legislation made its way to the Senate, all higher education institutions were stripped from the bill entirely. It wasn’t until the bill landed in the conference committee, a temporary joint committee created for the House and Senate to work out the bodies’ differences on a piece of legislation, that the six private schools and three UNC System schools made it in the final cut.

The conference committee was composed of four Republican representatives and four Republican senators. None of them responded to multiple requests for comment from CPP.

Prather said the makeup of the committee was disappointing but not surprising based on the current leadership in the legislature.

“Republican leaders in the legislature were the first to say that we all need to pull together for Western North Carolina and we can’t politicize this, we all need to support our brothers and sisters,” she said. “And then they go and form a conference committee with only Republicans, including some Republicans that don’t live in Western North Carolina.”

State Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, represented Warren Wilson in past iterations of the state’s districts. Now the college falls under Prather’s jurisdiction, but it wasn’t easy for her to get there.

Ager believes it’s Prather’s election that made Republicans strip Warren Wilson from the recovery package.

Crews work on power lines on Warren Wilson Road in Swannanoa on Oct. 1, 2024. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press

When North Carolina was redistricted in 2023, Republicans used what Ager called a “donut strategy,” leaving Asheville as its own district in the middle and drawing two districts that lean more conservative, the 114th and 115th, around the city. Despite the 115th district appearing to be a Republican stronghold, Prather won the seat by a tight margin in 2024.

It’s hard to see any other reason why Warren Wilson was left out of Helene funding than politics, Ager said.

“That’s the only reason I can think of that makes Warren Wilson different, because the reality of it is they suffered a lot more damage than the other schools that were on the list,” he said.

Warren Wilson leaders were surprised by the college’s exclusion because the school’s communication and relationships with lawmakers were positive throughout the storm and recovery efforts, Roberts said. They don’t want to speculate on why Warren Wilson was cut, and they’re still working to get answers several weeks later.

The college is attempting to be sensitive in the way it lifts up concerns about being excluded, Roberts said. He hopes all Americans understand that natural disasters are not political events.

“Natural disasters are when every American — regardless of where they come from, what their political affiliation is — gets support because we come together as a country during times like this,” he said.

“I think that should be an understood, baseline expectation for everyone in whatever region of the country you come from, and that’s certainly our expectation here.”

While the storm had a great impact on Warren Wilson, Roberts emphasized the impact Warren Wilson has on the state — 40% of their students are from North Carolina, another 40% are Pell Grant eligible and the college’s presence contributes $50 million to North Carolina’s economy, he said.

Ager and Prather both said they hope proposed funding for Warren Wilson will be revisited, though they aren’t sure it would be a successful endeavor.

“I always worry that they’re going to make a political decision rather than a common sense policy decision,” Ager said.

This article first appeared on Carolina Public Press and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The post Warren Wilson left out of NC Helene bill. Reason unclear. appeared first on carolinapublicpress.org

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This article presents a critical perspective on the state legislature’s handling of disaster relief funding, highlighting potential political motivations behind the exclusion of Warren Wilson College from aid. The coverage emphasizes concerns from Democratic state representatives and affected institutions, framing Republican-led decisions as possibly partisan and unfair. The tone leans toward advocacy for equitable aid and accountability in government, common in Center-Left reporting, but it maintains factual reporting and quotes multiple viewpoints without overt ideological rhetoric. Thus, it exhibits a moderate left-leaning bias focused on social fairness and government oversight.