Roundtable examines homelessness divide in Sylva
Author Brian Barth (right) stands with Monte, an unhoused friend he made while writing his book.
File photo
Silicon Valley and Sylva are about as different as any two places can be, but they do share at least one thing in common.
In Cupertino, billion-dollar office buildings rise within sight of tents and tarps. People sleep in cars or on bare ground backdropped by a landscape where extreme wealth and extreme poverty exist side by side.
In Sylva and the rest of Western North Carolina, multi million-dollar vacation homes loom far above homeless camps nestled under railroad bridges or in woody patches alongside creeks and rivers where affluence and austerity also coexist, on the same narrow ground.
The commonality is immediate and unavoidable, a physical expression of inequality that defines daily life. Substance abuse, mental health issues, rising housing costs and stagnant wage growth push working people toward instability in communities that continue to grow around them — and depend on them to perform the humblest of jobs that keep the wheels of society turning.
That uneasy proximity between prosperity and precarity will shape a community roundtable April 16 in Sylva, where residents, officials and service providers will examine homelessness as both a local issue and part of a broader national crisis.
Hosted in the Community Room of Jackson County Public Library, the event is sponsored by City Lights Bookstore, the Jackson County Public Library and Indivisible/Common Ground of WNC.
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The discussion will feature retiring Sylva Police Chief Chris Hatton, HERE in Jackson County Interim Supervisor Paul Phillips and investigative journalist Brian Barth.
Barth’s work focuses on homelessness, inequality and the systems that shape both. He is the author of “Front Street: Resistance and Rebirth in the Tent Cities of Techlandia,” a 2025 book that blends reporting, memoir, history and cultural analysis to document life inside Silicon Valley’s homeless encampments.
Through extensive on-the-ground reporting, Barth examines how people survive in one of the wealthiest regions in the country while lacking stable housing — challenging common assumptions about poverty and personal responsibility.
Barth’s work is rooted in immersive techniques, spending time with unhoused individuals to understand their circumstances sperate from statistics or policy debates. His reporting highlights the structural pressures that contribute to homelessness, including gaps in social services. Rather than framing homelessness as an isolated issue, Barth presents it as a condition shaped by broader economic and social systems.
His connection to Western North Carolina informs his perspective on housing instability outside major urban centers — Barth’s family has ties to the region, and he grew up spending protracted periods in Sylva and Webster, including during the Coronavirus Pandemic.
Those experiences reinforce the central argument of “Front Street” — that homelessness is not confined to any one place but is part of a wider national crisis that manifests differently depending on local conditions.
In “Front Street,” Barth seeks to humanize people experiencing homelessness, emphasizing resilience and basic human dignity while challenging readers to reconsider how they view unhoused individuals and recognize the shared vulnerability that exists across economic lines.
Organizers say the roundtable is intended as an open forum where community members can ask questions and participate in a conversation about homelessness and housing challenges.
Barth’s book anchors that discussion in a national context by confronting conventional thinking about homelessness and focusing on the lived experiences of people navigating instability in a region defined by wealth. He documents how individuals form communities, maintain self-respect and attempt to survive within systems that often fail to support them, revealing how quickly stability can disappear, even for people who once had secure housing and steady employment.
“They tell people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, but when there are no boots, no straps and nowhere stable to stand, that idea collapses,” Barth said.
In Western North Carolina, homelessness may not always appear in large encampments, but it indeed exists in less visible forms. People may live in vehicles, double up with family members or move between temporary arrangements that provide no long-term security. Service providers say those conditions often go unnoticed until a crisis brings them into public view.
Barth argues that understanding homelessness requires shifting perspective from judgment to recognition, acknowledging how structural pressures affect individuals across income levels. The systems that produce visible homelessness in major cities can operate more quietly in rural and mountain communities, creating instability that is less visible but no less real.
“People have more agency than they think,” Barth said.
That idea speaks to the role individuals can play in addressing homelessness, not through sweeping policy changes alone but through direct engagement, relationship-building and connection to resources. Barth emphasizes that meaningful change often begins at a personal level, where small interventions can alter outcomes over time.
That philosophy is reflected locally in Sylva’s Community Care program, an initiative that integrates social workers and Western Carolina University student interns into policing. The program focuses on identifying root causes and connecting individuals with services rather than relying solely on enforcement and incarceration.
The approach represents a shift from reactive policing to proactive engagement. Instead of responding only to complaints or visible behavior, the program works to understand underlying issues and guide individuals toward solutions that can provide long-term stability.
As an example, Sylva police officers first connected with a man in October 2022 after repeated encounters and a referral identifying him as someone in need of additional support. He had been sleeping behind a vacant building, exposed to the elements and cycling through daily police calls from concerned residents reporting his presence. Instead of treating those calls as isolated incidents, Sylva’s Community Care team followed up, meeting him where he was and beginning the slower work of building trust.
Over time, that contact became a relationship. The team worked to understand his circumstances, identify what he needed and connect him with local resources, while maintaining consistent communication through setbacks and small gains. Progress did not come quickly, but with continued encouragement and coordination among community partners, he eventually secured employment and moved into stable housing. Since then, the calls for service that once brought officers to him regularly have stopped entirely, marking a shift not just in his situation but in how the system responded to it.
Partnerships played a key role in that success. HERE in Jackson County and regional workforce programs help connect services and provide support, illustrating how collaboration across agencies can create more effective responses to homelessness.
Phillips will bring that local perspective to the roundtable, discussing trends in Jackson County and the challenges facing organizations working to connect people with housing and support services. His work involves coordinating outreach efforts, identifying gaps in resources and responding to increasing demand in a region where affordable housing remains limited.
Organizers say the roundtable is designed to encourage dialogue, allowing residents to engage directly with panelists and explore the complexities of homelessness in their own community. The goal is not simply to present information but to foster understanding and create space for meaningful conversation.
Barth wants attendees to leave with a clearer picture of how widespread housing instability has become and how much it affects everyday life.
“I hope people walk away with a deeper understanding of how close this issue is to all of us and see the humanity in people they might otherwise overlook,” Barth said.
His work suggests that the boundary between housed and unhoused is more fragile than many assume.
As Western North Carolina continues to grow, those pressures are likely to increase, making conversations like the Sylva roundtable more urgent. Addressing homelessness will require a combination of policy, resources and personal engagement, shaped by an understanding of both local conditions and broader trends.
For Barth, the message is rooted in recognition and shared experience.
“In reality, they’re much more like us than we realize,” he said. “In fact, they are they are us. They are us — just in a different context in their lives.”
Sylva forum to address homelessness
A roundtable discussion on homelessness will take place April 16 at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva, bringing together local officials, advocates and an investigative journalist to examine the issue from both national and local perspectives.
Sponsored by City Lights Bookstore, the Jackson County Public Library and Indivisible/Common Ground of WNC, the event begins at 6 p.m. in the library’s Community Room, with light refreshments available at 5:30 p.m.
Award-winning investigative journalist Brian Barth will read from his book “Front Street,” which examines homelessness in Silicon Valley through reporting, memoir and cultural analysis.
Retiring Sylva Police Chief Chris Hatton will discuss the town’s Community Care program, which pairs officers with a social worker and student interns to connect unhoused individuals with services rather than jail. Paul Phillips, interim supervisor of HERE in Jackson County, will address local homelessness trends.
Organizers say the event is intended as an open forum where community members can ask questions and participate in discussion about homelessness and housing challenges.
