TO: Mayor and Members of City Council
THRU: Council Member Brenda McNair, Committee Chair
FROM: The Homelessness and Mental Health Committee
DATE: October 6, 2025
RE:Title
Report from the Homelessness and Mental Health Committee
Title
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COUNCIL DISTRICT(S):
Council District(s)
All
b
Relationship To Strategic Plan:
Goal IV: The City of Fayetteville will be a highly desirable place to live, work and recreate.
Objective 4.6: To reduce poverty and homelessness
Executive Summary:
City Council is asked to receive a report of recent activities from the Homelessness and Mental Health Committee and provide consensus to add presentations from Redeploying American Veterans and the Continuum of Care to a future Council work session.
Background:
The Homelessness and Mental Health Committee met on September 4, 2025 and received three presentations.
The first presentation was from Redeploying American Veterans (RAV), a non-profit organization whose purpose is to determine a solution to end homelessness. RAV’s goal is to eliminate veteran homelessness by 2030. Their presentation included a proposal for a tiny home community for veterans and outlined the support services that would be provided to residents of the tiny home community. RAV stated the community would be built at no cost to the City, with funding being provided by Fortune 500 companies. The only request of the City was for land to be donated or leased to RAV for the location of the tiny home community.
The second presentation was an update on the Day Resource Center (DRC) provided by Carlos Sanchez, DRC Director. Mr. Sanchez shared the following information:
• Significant increase in clothing requests due to changing weather conditions;
• Increased usage of services that provide for basic needs;
• Several new service providers have started operating at the DRC, Including Shine for Sight (provides free eyeglasses), Recovery, Unity and Service (provides recovery support for alcoholism), and Endeavors (provides case management for mental health and wellness);
• New staff members have been hired to fill vacancies;
• New front desk management system has been implemented, Lobbytrack; and
• Goals for 2026 include a raised vegetable garden and a mobile dental trailer.
The third presentation was a homelessness overview and update on the Point-in-Time (PIT) Count provided by Debbie Brown of the Fayetteville-Cumberland Continuum of Care (CoC). The annual PIT Count was conducted on January 24, 2025. The PIT Count reflects only a single 24-hour snapshot and shows a slight increase in homelessness over the previous year. Ms. Brown stated that the data is still preliminary since HUD has not yet confirmed the final numbers and spoke about several factors that may have contributed to the results of the Count. She also provided contextual information about the overall scope of homelessness in the community and said that the PIT Count is a tool to be used with other data when evaluating strengths and identifying areas for improvement related to improving housing outcomes in the community.
Issues/Analysis:
The Committee moved to have the presentations from Redeploying American Veterans and the Fayetteville-Cumberland Continuum of Care be presented to the Council at a future work session.
Budget Impact:
None.
Options:
1. Receive the report and provide consensus to add the presentations from Redeploying American Veterans and the Continuum of Care to a future Council work session.
2. Receive the report and do not provide consensus to add the presentations from Redeploying American Veterans and the Continuum of Care to a future Council work session.
3. Do not receive the report or provide consensus to add the presentations from Redeploying American Veterans and the Continuum of Care to a future Council work session.
Recommended Action::Recommended Action
The Homelessness and Mental Health Committee recommends that Council receive the report and provide consensus to add the presentations from Redeploying American Veterans and the Continuum of Care to a future Council work session.
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Attachments:
DRAFT 9/4/25 Homelessness and Mental Health Committee Minutes