Code Purple Tuesday Buncombe County

Buncombe County -- October 29, 2023: The Asheville Homeless Coalition announced the following information today:

After these last few balmy days, temperatures will take a sudden dip down into lows of 25 on Halloween.
Emergency shelter is provided to people experiencing homelessness during freezing weather at Veterans Restoration Quarters, Transformation Village, and Salvation Army.

This means a Code Purple for Tuesday.  Code Purple is a collaborative initiative involving shelters in Asheville and Buncombe County, as well as other organizations, to offer emergency overflow shelter to individuals who are homeless during severe cold conditions (at or below 32 degrees, accounting for wind chill, or 33-40 degrees with precipitation). During Code Purple, the partnering shelters will offer additional sleeping accommodations with reduced eligibility criteria compared to their regular services. Code Purple locations will additionally collaborate with participants to facilitate referrals to existing shelters and housing alternatives.

Transportation

● ABCCM will provide shuttle service with pickups at its Crisis Ministry (24 Cumberland
Ave.) at 4 p.m.
● Bus transit through ART is free to Code Purple sites at night and from Code Purple sites
to downtown the following morning
○ Riders should identify themselves to the driver as needing free transit to Code
Purple sites beginning 3:20pm and going to 8:00pm (when general shelter intake
closes)
○ The morning after a Code Purple event, transport is available back to Coxe Ave
terminal from 6 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. on weekdays/Saturday and 8 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.
on Sundays. Inbound service is not available after above times if Code Purple
has not been issued for that night also.
○ When Code Purple is in effect for multiple days, ART transport is available
throughout the day.
○ Backpacks and other belongings must not obstruct the aisle or limit access to
seats for other passengers, passengers may be denied based on too many bags.
○ Drivers reserve the right to eject passengers for disruptive, dangerous, or
threatening behavior or speech.

● Community Paramedics and Community Responders are available to provide
transportation for people who are unable to access bus transit.
● Mission Hospital will facilitate taxi service to Code Purple shelters for people being
discharged from the hospital.
● ABCCM will facilitate shuttle service to/from the transit stop closest to Transformation
Village.

More information Code Purple

WNCTimes