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Yahoo
24-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
An Asheville respite supports the unhoused after hospital stays. It is now expanding.
ASHEVILLE - Trokon Guar was finally walking without a wheelchair. He'd come to Haywood Street Respite eight months earlier with a fractured leg. In July, the respite's screened-in porch dimmed the summer heat, an alcove tucked away from the near-constant activity of the downtown church. Guar demonstrated a few calf raises, grinning. He is a composer and musician. When it comes to genre, he's not picky — R&B, rock, jazz. But he favors spoken word hip hop. In a new music video on his YouTube channel, snippets of footage are filmed in Haywood Street Congregation's sanctuary, backlit by stained glass. The 12-bed respite offers post-acute, short-term care after hospitalization for people experiencing homelessness. The intervention is intended to give them a place to recover, rather than ending up directly back on the street. 'This place has changed my life," Guar, 34, told the Citizen Times July 17. He has been homeless for years. In-and-out of the hospital. If not for the respite, he said, "I had nowhere else to go." More: Homelessness after Helene: With final Buncombe disaster shelter closed, what's next? Respite expansion underway The respite is slated for expansion using funding from a $1.6 million grant, awarded by Buncombe County via American Rescue Plan Act dollars in September. The Continuum of Care recommended funding for the program after issuing a request for proposals last year to bolster area shelter beds. The project will grow the respite to 25 beds, more than doubling its capacity, adding a second-story addition to the building, along with an elevator and 3,300 square feet of new offices, bedrooms and common areas. Haywood Street Congregation, an urban ministry with the mission, "relationship, above all else," opened the respite in 2014. The brick church sits on the outskirts of downtown. It hosts a midweek Downtown Welcome Table, often a refuge for the city's unhoused. If the welcome table is the ministry's "hub," respite is its "heart," said Executive Director Laura Kirby. The city began processing its permit application July 1. Construction on the $1.9 million project is expected to begin construction in late September, Kirby said. It will take about 12 months. The respite will temporarily relocate residents to allow for uninterrupted operations. Respite Director Nicole Brown said the expansion will mean, first and foremost, turning less people away. Staff will also have more flexibility to keep people longer, leading to better outcomes for residents. A stay starts at two weeks, but lasts 45 days on average. Placements are made by referral, with many coming from Mission Hospital and the county's community paramedics. Those in respite care have a safe place to rest, meals, transportation to follow-up appointments and assistance accessing services and support. In 2022, the National Institute for Medical Respite Care selected Haywood Street's program, along with four others in the country, to receive capacity building assistance to increase the integration of medical respite with behavioral health care. There is a licensed clinical social worker on staff, as well as an in-house case manager, a peer support specialist, nurses and other 24/7 support. Asheville faces lack of affordable housing The goal is to create an exit plan for each person in respite care, like working toward long-term housing or connecting them with a behavioral health provider. It ensures people are added to the by-name list — a standard practice for an area Continuum of Care, with real-time information used to prioritize people to be slated for available housing programs dedicated to those exiting homelessness through coordinated entry. Asheville's list includes 690 people actively engaged with providers, according to Emily Ball, manager with the city's homeless strategy division. For the respite's first decade of operation, 70% of residents went somewhere other than the streets upon departure, and 87% were newly connected with primary care, with most attending at least the first follow-up appointment, according to Haywood Street figures. Guar, for example, is awaiting documents he needs to replace his identification and Social Security card before he can take next steps toward housing. He is hopeful for placement in a group home, before eventually moving into his own place. Others are waiting for housing at Vanderbilt Apartments or the housing authority. As the ministry shifted its model to work with people facing more complex issues — like those with intersecting medical and behavioral health needs — it can be more difficult to exit them into shelter, Brown said. Some shelters also may not be structured to support people in wheelchairs or on oxygen. 'So it might be that they're going outside, but they're going outside hopefully a lot more supported than they were when they came in," Brown said. Asheville also faces a lack of affordable housing options, Brown said. The city's 2024 Affordable Housing Plan found that 36% of all Asheville households are "cost-burdened," meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing costs. Between 2015 and 2021, median rent increased 33%, from $866 to $1,152, while median wages for workers in Asheville's top industries increased only 15%, the study found. Asheville has among the highest rents in the state. For this reason Haywood Street embarked on its own housing venture: constructing 41 permanently affordable apartments less than a half-mile from the church, aiming for occupancy by November. More: Haywood St.'s 41 affordable apartments named for Asheville activist Gloria Howard Free Community 'changes things' In the respite's kitchen July 17, hospitality manager Elizabeth Bower, affectionately referred to as the "house mom," was serving up a baked potato bar. She and Brown remembered the earliest days of Haywood Street Congregation's welcome table, back in 2010, making large batches of scrambled eggs in a residential kitchen. They didn't know the color changed when kept warm for too long. Faced with a pot of green eggs, they just made ham, too, Bower said. At the kitchen table was Tracy Fowler. He was homeless for about three years before coming to respite. 'I've been able to get the rest I've needed, get off the streets, get regulated on my meds. Become myself again," Fowler, 57, said. Accepting someone into a community is crucial to respite's mission, Brown said. "(It) just instantly changes things," she said. 'While the stay in respite might be short, the relationships that you build, and the support we offer, is long term with that connection with Haywood Street.' John Madden, 78, who prefers to go by "Jaunito," was living in Mexico when he fell ill. Unable to afford a doctor there, he came back to Asheville, where he lived for more than a decade before the pandemic in 2020. "I came back with no plans but to stay alive, if I could, or find out what was going on,' he said. He's experienced homelessness before — he estimated about 25 days total in the last five years — but the 10 days on the street before securing a spot at respite were brutal. One night on the street, "and I unravel in a way that is startling," he said. 'This place has been beyond miraculous," Madden said of the respite. "The staff are astonishing. I call them ninjas, because they have to handle every kind of problem, from psychological to housing ... I started to exhale once I got through the door.' Phillip Lucero, 65, was clear about the emotional and physical toll homelessness takes. He was in shelters for about three years, and on the street "fairly recently." 'This can really happen to anybody. I had a very good job. I had a really good apartment … And it just, piece by piece, fell apart in a matter of months," Lucero said. 'A couple of bad decisions and here I am. And it is extraordinarily difficult to survive." Places like respite make it possible, he said. They do a good job to make you feel "at home." He, Madden and Fowler are on various housing waitlists. Lucero said he has been on some of them for years. 'You become a target' The respite is working to break a cycle people can become trapped in when experiencing homelessness: bouncing from the street, to shelter, to jail, to the hospital and back. It is complicated by a lack of shelter beds. Further complicated by difficulty finding affordable housing. Sleeping or existing outside while homeless can result in a second-degree trespassing charge, Brown said. 'When you're homeless, you become a target for a lot of people. No one really cares about you," Guar said. You are arrested for disorderly conduct, for trespassing or are kicked out of buildings. It was enough to make him feel like no one "wanted anything to do with me." 'But these people here care," he said of respite. "They've shown me that there is people out there that care. My mentality has changed completely.' How to get help Call Haywood Street Respite at 828-301-3782. Learn more about respite referrals at More: BeLoved Asheville rebuilds with resilience in Swannanoa's Helene-damaged Beacon Village More: Could Asheville get alcohol-friendly social district downtown? Council may consider it Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@ or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Downtown Asheville's Haywood Street Respite is expanding its beds Solve the daily Crossword
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Farmers face seed price rise and fertiliser shortage before Kharif sowing
Jaipur: Ahead of the sowing of the Kharif crop, farmers in Rajasthan are grappling with a shortage of DAP (Diammonium Phosphate), a widely used fertiliser, and an increase in the prices of seeds. While the state's agriculture minister, Kirori Lal Meena, admitted that the state obtained 90,000 metric tons of DAP against the demand of 2 lakh metric tons, he said that some traders are also engaged in hoarding. Following raids on fake seeds, the prices of seeds, including those of Bajra and Guar, have increased. "The prices of Bajra were Rs 650 per packet and have now increased to Rs 720 per packet. Also, Guar, which was available at Rs 270 is now being sold at Rs 320 per packet. DAP is not available anywhere," said Ram Singh, a farmer from Takrada village near Chomu. Farmers said that in the name of selling genuine seeds, they are being overcharged. "At Sriganganagar, the traders are selling DAP to Punjab at higher prices, and authorities are taking no action," alleged Amar Singh, a farmer from Sriganganagar. When contacted, Kirori Lal Meena, agriculture minister, said, "I am aware of DAP shortage and the fact that many traders are hoarding DAP. Let me repeat that I am not going to let anyone hoard DAP and will ensure its availability to the farmers.: "I have also sought chief minister's intervention to urge the govt to release more DAP since we got 90,000 metric tons against our demand of 2 lakh metric tons," Meena added. Farmers in Sriganganagar said that due to the prevailing problem of less irrigation water, higher prices of seeds, and the non-availability of DAP and other fertilisers, sowing has been limited to only 40% in Sriganganagar. "The authorities should organise more raids at the godowns where traders are hoarding DAP. Also, there should be a check on the prices of seeds and pesticides," said Tejinder Singh, a farmer from Srikaranpur in the Sriganganagar district.
The Guardian
14-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Sudan rejects US request to discuss taking in Palestinians under Trump's Gaza plan
Sudanese officials say they have rejected a request from the US to discuss taking in Palestinians displaced from Gaza under Donald Trump's plan to turn the territory into a 'Riviera on the Mediterranean'. According to an Associated Press report, the US and Israel contacted officials in Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland about resettling uprooted Palestinians. The contacts suggested both countries are determined to press ahead with Trump's proposal despite international outrage and massive practical difficulties – or at least use the plan to force other actors in the region to come up with their own ideas for Gaza when hostilities finally end. Two officials from war-torn Sudan confirmed to the Associated Press that the Trump administration had approached the military-led government about accepting Palestinians. One said the contacts began even before Trump's inauguration with offers of military assistance in the army's fight against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, assistance with postwar reconstruction and other incentives. Both officials said the Sudanese government rejected the idea. 'This suggestion was immediately rebuffed,' said one official. 'No one opened this matter again.' Under Trump's plan, Gaza's more than 2 million residents would be permanently displaced to allow massive reconstruction as a high-end 'international' leisure and business destination. Experts said any forced resettlement was illegal under international law. Initially, Egypt and Jordan were suggested as destinations for displaced Palestinians, but both strenuously opposed the plan. Palestinians in Gaza have also rejected the proposal and dismiss Israeli claims that the departures would be voluntary. Arab nations have offered an alternative multibillion-dollar reconstruction plan that would leave the Palestinians in place. The White House says Trump 'stands by his vision'. Speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a secret diplomatic initiative, US and Israeli officials also described to the Associated Press news agency contacts with Somalia and the breakaway Somaliland region. They said it was unclear how much progress the efforts made or at what level the discussions took place. Outreach from the US and Israel to the three potential destinations began last month, days after Trump floated the Gaza plan, according to the US officials, who said that Israel was taking the lead in the discussions. Israeli officials and the White House have declined to comment on the efforts. The offices of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, and Ron Dermer, the Israeli minister who has been leading Israel's postwar planning, also had no comment. Netanyahu has hailed Trump's proposal as a 'bold vision', while Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right finance minister and a longtime advocate of what he calls 'voluntary' emigration of Palestinians, has recently said that Israel was working to identify countries to take in Palestinians. International legal experts have told the Guardian that, given the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, any such emigration could be unlawful and potentially constitute a war crime. Sudan was among the four Abraham accord nations that agreed to normalise diplomatic relations with Israel in 2020 but was plunged almost immediately into a civil war marked by widespread atrocities, including ethnically motivated killing and rape, according to the UN and rights groups. US officials, seemingly aware that few Palestinians would be keen to relocate to such a precarious state, attempted to sweeten any deal by offering a range of incentives to Sudan's government, including an offer of assistance to the army in its fight against the RSF which, in turn, is backed by the United Arab Emirates, a significant US ally. The proposal, if accepted, would have meant the US backing a side it has accused of war crimes and joining the same side in the conflict as Russia, at a time when Vladimir Putin is contemplating the American proposal for a ceasefire in Ukraine. Before the revelations, Sudan had already indicated it would not entertain any attempt to resettle Palestinians in a country coping with the world's worst humanitarian crisis. The head of Sudan's army and de facto president, Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan – subject of the US sanctions – last week told a summit in Cairo that his country 'categorically rejects' any plan that aims to transfer 'the brotherly Palestinians from their land under whatever justification or name'. The Guardian has contacted Sudan's ministry of foreign affairs for comment. Somaliland, a territory of more than 3 million people in the Horn of Africa, seceded from Somalia more than 30 years ago, but it is not internationally recognised as an independent state. An American official involved in the efforts confirmed to the Associated Press that the US was 'having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the US in exchange for recognition'. An official in Somaliland, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, said his government had not been approached and was not in talks about taking in Palestinians. Somalia is an even more unlikely destination. Mogadishu has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinians, and joined the recent Arab summit that rejected Trump's plan. A Somali official told the Associated Press the country had not been approached about taking in Palestinians from Gaza and there had been no discussions about it. In recent years, Somalia has developed strong ties with Arab states and with Turkey. Much of the country is ruled by al-Shabaab, an extremist Islamist militia allied with al-Qaida.
