The article that follows is by no means a political statement; rather, it is a near-perfect example of what good governance should look like. Kirk deViere’s recent Dispatch on the Unhoused Support Center vividly outlines the past leadership failures within Cumberland County that have stalled this much needed project and ballooned its costs by millions. More importantly, it details how the current Board of Commissioners has worked diligently to move the project forward and make it a responsible reality.
It is vital for the residents of Cumberland County to see how teamwork, integrity, hard work, common sense and rigorous vetting translate into responsible stewardship of taxpayer money.
Effective, honest and responsible governance is not predicated on race, gender, or political party lines. The guiding principle is very simple: "Do the right thing for the right reason." If our community is to prosper, we must demand this level of competent and responsible leadership from all our city and county elected leaders. Honesty and competence are not determined at the ballot box—they are on full display through the measurement of their actual achievements and accomplishments during their tenure.
I applaud our dedicated and responsible Board of Commissioners for delving deeply into this important and much-needed project. While it is unnerving to consider how many other local projects, both citywide and countywide, require this same kind of scrutiny, this one effort is an encouraging and crucial step forward in providing the facilities, services and leadership we need and deserve in our community.
Just sayin'!
Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly.
—Bill Bowman, Publisher

Four years after the first state dollars arrived, here are the facts on our shelter project.
I get asked about the Unhoused Support Center more than almost any other project. Why is it not built yet? Where is the money going? When will it open?
Those are fair questions. You deserve straight answers. And those answers start in 2022.
What Was Planned in 2022
In February 2022, Cumberland County signed a grant agreement with the State for $1 million in State Capital Infrastructure Fund dollars. The North Carolina General Assembly directed that money to one purpose: help build a new emergency shelter.
I know that money well. As your State Senator, I worked with then County Commissioner Charles Evans to bring those dollars home from Raleigh. We fought for them because our community had gone too long without enough shelter beds. So I take it personally when I see how long that money has waited to do its job.
The need was documented. A 2021 gap analysis found our community had far fewer emergency shelter beds than comparable communities. The goals in the grant were simple:
• More beds. Increase the number of year round emergency shelter beds.
• A path out. Connect every person in the shelter to housing resources, navigators, and case management.
• Less strain on everyone else. Fewer people sleeping outside, fewer showing up at the Cape Fear Valley emergency department, and fewer landing in the Detention Center.
The plan carried a total budget of about $1.6 million. It also carried a timeline. Site control by June 2022. Design finished by January 2023. Construction from April 2023 to July 2024. Doors open in August 2024.
August 2024 came and went. No shelter opened.
How a $1.6 Million Shelter Became a $32 Million Design
Somewhere between that grant agreement and 2024, the goalposts moved. The project stopped being about adding beds and started being about building something big. Expanding capacity was the assignment. A larger, more ambitious facility became the priority. The people the grant was meant to serve waited while the plans got bigger.
• 2022: About $1.6 million, opening August 2024.
• 2023: Rescoped and expanded to $14 million.
• 2024: Grown to $18 million.
• The actual design: 157 beds across 45,536 square feet. When the numbers came in, it would have cost roughly $32 million. That is nearly double the $17 million budget the previous board approved.
Then came the groundbreaking. In February 2024, a ceremony was held at the Hawley Lane site with shovels and speeches. The architect did not formally begin design work until May 2024. The shovels went in the dirt before anyone knew what the building would cost.
A groundbreaking makes a good photo. But a photo is not a plan, and a ceremony is not a shelter. Nothing was built.
In the fall of 2024, County staff paused the project to rescope it. That was the right call. But when this Board took office in December 2024, here is what we inherited: a stalled project, a design twice over budget, and a promised opening date already missed.
The Question Nobody Had Answered
Building a shelter is only part of the cost. A shelter has to be staffed, secured, fed, cleaned, and maintained every single day it is open.
When I took office, staff briefed me on every County construction project underway. One of the first questions I asked about this center was simple: what will it cost to operate and maintain once it is built?
That matters because the answer lands on the General Fund. Your tax dollars. Every dollar to staff, run, and maintain this building comes out of the same budget that pays for deputies, schools, and every other County service.
There was no good answer. There was no operator and no operating budget for this center. There was no plan for long term maintenance. A building had been planned and celebrated without anyone answering who would run it or what it would cost taxpayers to keep it running.
That raises questions every taxpayer should ask:
• How does a board approve a building without first knowing what it will cost to run every year?
• How does a project move to a groundbreaking without an operator, a staffing plan, or a maintenance budget?
• Where was the money going to come from? Which services would be cut, or how much would taxes rise, to cover millions in new costs every year?
• Who was going to walk through the door on day one to run it, and how would anyone know if it was working?
No family runs a household that way. No business runs that way. Your County government should not either.
We answered it. In October 2025, this Board directed staff to bring back a recommended operator and an estimated operating budget. In December 2025, after a competitive process with four proposals, we selected the Manna Dream Center to run the center.
• $439,320 over two years to prepare before the doors open.
• About $2.89 million a year to operate the 100 bed center once it opens.
That is the real commitment. Roughly $2.9 million every year, on top of construction. You deserve to see that number before the building goes up, not after. And bringing the operator in early means the people who will run the building help shape its final design.
The Cleanup
We did not start over. We fixed what was broken and kept what worked.
• Back within budget. In June 2025, commissioners met with the architect, LS3P, to reset the project. We rescoped from 157 beds and 45,536 square feet to 100 beds and 24,000 square feet, back inside the $17 million budget.
• Every core program kept. Men, women, and families. Dining, education space, support services, courtyards, and a residential scale design. The reduction came from right sizing the building, not cutting the mission.
• Real oversight. The Board accepted Phase 1 in August 2025 by a 6 to 1 vote. We approved Phase 2 unanimously in October 2025. We approved the schematic design, the “Carved Courtyards” concept, in April 2026.
• Transparent costs. Construction comes to roughly $114,000 per bed, once site work, contingency, and soft costs are set aside. We asked for that number and we are sharing it with you.
We Did Not Wait on the Building
People need shelter tonight, not in 2028. So while we fixed the long term project, we went after beds right now.
• Due diligence first. When the Salvation Army Pathway to Hope shelter closed in April 2025, we offered up to $563,000 to reopen it, but only after an inspection and financial review. The inspection found mold. The review found about $100,000 in unpaid invoices. We walked away and redirected $400,000 to shelter 72 displaced people, including 22 families.
• A partnership that works. Once the Salvation Army was under new local management, we came back to the table. In December 2025 we approved a partnership of up to $1 million, with the City of Fayetteville contributing up to $350,000, for 67 year round beds plus 50 more during White Flag cold weather nights.
• More cold weather protection. We doubled White Flag funding from $80,000 to $160,000 and expanded it across the county.
• A stronger system. We funded $800,000 for three new Continuum of Care positions plus administrative support, and $250,000 for a Homeless Prevention and Stabilization Voucher Program.
Where We Stand Today
I promised you straight talk, so here it is. This project still has hurdles.
• Cost pressure. In June 2026, the schematic construction estimate came in above the $14 million construction budget. That triggered a target value design process to bring it back in line.
• Design development is on hold. The item to move into design development was pulled from the September 21 agenda. The Board has not approved that step.
• The neighborhood changed. The Hawley Lane site sits beside the former Pauline Jones Elementary School. In March 2026, the Board of Education rescinded its plan to transfer that property to the County and voted to relocate Ramsey Street High School to that campus. We need to know where our partners stand.
• A later opening. The targeted opening is now February 2028. That is later than we hoped. I would rather give you a real date than a convenient one.
What the Board Did on October 22
On Oct. 22, the Board voted 5 to 1 to direct staff to do five things and report back by our Nov. 12 Agenda Session:
• Alternate sites. Identify up to five alternate sites in the county that can fit the approved design.
• A development partner. Issue a Request for Information for a partner to build and maintain the facility using our approved design and lease it to the County, including any lease to own or purchase option.
• Turnkey emergency shelter. Issue a Request for Proposals for one partner to provide both the building and full shelter operations for up to 70 beds. At least 30 beds open within 30 days of a contract and all beds within 90 days, on a two year term with one optional renewal.
• Support for Hawley Lane. Engage City of Fayetteville staff on the special use permit, and ask the Board of Education to consider a resolution of support for the center at that location.
• County buildings. Identify County owned buildings that could be renovated into an emergency shelter, with costs, capacity, and a timeline for each.
Here is why the turnkey shelter matters. Our own study in 2023 said this community needs 120 emergency shelter beds. Today we have 67 year round beds through the Salvation Army. We are more than 50 beds short, and winter is coming. For years the problem has not been finding a provider. It has been finding a building. This puts that responsibility on one partner who is accountable for everything.
Every bed must tie into our Coordinated Entry system so we know who we are serving and whether they are moving into housing. Respondents must show the cost per bed. And nothing gets awarded without coming back to this Board.
The Bottom Line
The goal in 2022 was right.
What went wrong was execution. The project grew without the money to build it and without a plan to run it. We have spent the last two years putting it back on solid ground: a budget that matches the building, an operator and an operating plan in place, and beds open today while we finish the long term solution.
This is not the only project we inherited that way. The downtown Crown Event Center followed the same pattern: a big promise, a price tag that kept climbing, and strain on General Fund tax dollars to pay for it. Another rushed groundbreaking, including a torn up parking lot and a $26 million commitment made two weeks before a new board took office. By the time this Board took office, it had grown to a $186 million project. We voted 5 to 2 to stop it and to modernize the Crown facilities we already own instead.
Walking away from money already spent is one of the hardest calls a board can make. But putting more good money behind a flawed plan would have cost you far more.
These decisions have not always been popular. They have drawn criticism and they have taken time. That is the headwind this Board has faced. But my job is not to cut ribbons on projects you cannot afford. My job is to be responsible with your tax dollars, even when the right answer is the harder one.
We will keep every option on the table until the right one is in front of us. And I will keep telling you exactly where things stand, good news or not.
Our neighbors without a home deserve a real solution. Our taxpayers deserve a responsible one. We intend to deliver both.