A picturesque mountain city has turned into a hotbed for crime and homelessness, severely unsettling locals and deterring tourists from visiting.
Asheville, North Carolina, has long been touted as a city with a homely feel on the Blue Ridge Mountains which embodies its motto of ‘quality of service, quality of life.’
However, locals in the city of 95,000 residents have claimed that quality of life has turned dour as the city struggles to deal with rampant homelessness.
This has caused encampments and panhandling to become much more common around town.
‘Homelessness, drug abuse and related crimes have increased relentlessly under the watch of local homelessness experts and a governing body that is dominated by liberal Democrats and those with an even more extreme view to the left,’ Carl Mumpower, a lifelong Asheville resident, told Fox News Digital.
‘The single most common phrase uttered by county and surrounding area residents is ‘I don’t go downtown anymore – it’s nasty, crazy and scary,’ Mumpower added.
Mumpower argued that Asheville has struggled to address homelessness since about three decades ago, slamming what he perceived to be a liberal bias among local leadership.
‘That lack of balance – the last conservative on the council was in 2009 – has led to a myopic repeat of errors,’ he told the outlet.
Mumpower said Asheville had a ‘persisting history of pursuing fantasized interventions over more realistic, measurable and trackable solutions.’
At least 824 people experienced homelessness in Asheville last year, according to city data reported by Blue Ridge Public Radio.
That marked a nine percent uptick from last year, largely due to the continued effects of Hurricane Helene in 2024.
That marked a slight uptick from 739 in 2024, largely due to the effects of Hurricane Helene that September.
‘Asheville began its efforts to address homelessness at least three decades ago,’ he explained. ‘This effort accelerated in the early part of this century with the first ‘Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness.’
Mumpower, who who was a City Council member from 2001 until 2009, called that plan was ‘ill–advised.’ Mumpower told Fox News Digital.
‘At the time, I suggested to the council that any plan that removed personal accountability from the helping equation was doomed to fail,’ he said.
The disgruntled local said ‘that plan and subsequent plans have failed with equal enthusiasm.’
Hellbound and Down 