Roanoke’s Hope and Home Task Force is recommending the city take a more proactive approach to address homelessness. Recommendations include aligning its nonprofits and government agencies to function as a regional service hub— perhaps with a tiny house village for transitional housing.
Roanoke Mayor Joe Cobb convened the Hope and Home Task Force in the fall of 2025, to figure out how to address the city’s unhoused population. The pandemic disrupted the housing market and sent rents soaring. More than a third of Roanoke’s households are cost-burdened, and the number of people who are unsheltered has boomed, Cobb said.
“The report also documents a 467% increase in unsheltered homelessness between 2019 and 2025," Cobb said. "Roanoke city public school has identified hundreds of students experiencing homelessness each year, approaching 700 in 2024-25."
The task force suggested a broad range of solutions, like better documenting housing inventory, better coordinating nonprofits and agencies, giving residents and businesses better tools to address problems. Even piloting a small-house village to bridge the housing gap for some people.
Roanoke city council members seem interested. But it’ll take money. And lame duck council member Peter Volosin said it’s hard for the city to go it alone.
“Our regional partners are unfortunately not helping us with footing the bill for putting these services into place," Volosin said. "Only 60% of people in homelessness in Roanoke are from the city itself. We need to make sure our partners are helping us with this challenge."
The next steps are to develop concrete steps and have the city manager work up a plan.
