Asheville prepares to roll out $225M CDBG-DR program; HUD grant agreement executed and staff hired

Asheville — City staff said on Aug. 26 that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has executed the city's CDBG-DR grant agreement, clearing a major administrative milestone and allowing the city to proceed with program manuals, staffing and vendor selection required to distribute funds.

Community Development staff briefed the Policy, Finance & Infrastructure Committee and said the city must meet HUD's federal requirements before distributing funds. "We have 66 months in 1 week to spend down our $225,000,000 CDBG-DR grant," the presenter said, noting the statutory spending window HUD imposes.

Key program details - Total grant: $225,000,000 (CDBG-DR allocation) with a requirement that 70% of funds benefit low- to moderate-income residents overall. - Program allocations discussed: Small business support program — $17,000,000; Infrastructure program — $125,000,000; Planning program — $3,800,000 (figures from staff presentation and subject to program manuals and HUD approvals). - Staffing and implementation: City staff announced that Alma King has started as the CDBG-DR program manager and that HUD required the hiring of three additional program lead positions (infrastructure, economic recovery, housing) with position descriptions in draft and hiring targeted by November; an implementation vendor has been selected and is on the regular council consent agenda.

Federal compliance and transparency Staff stressed that HUD conditioned the grant on the city's grant-management capacity and required documentation: financial management procedures, program manuals describing eligibility, award processes, environmental reviews, wage-and-labor compliance, and internal auditing. The city has selected an internal auditing firm (on the consent agenda) to support federal compliance and monitoring.

Process vs. immediate spending Although the grant agreement is executed, staff emphasized that funds will not be disbursed until program policies, manuals and administrative systems are in place. The presenter said staff will publish program manuals and materials on ashevillerecovers.org and roll programs out in phases, starting with the small business support program.

Next steps City will finalize program manuals, hire additional staff required by HUD, onboard the implementation vendor, and publish program guidance publicly. Committee members thanked staff for the work and the briefing. No final awards were made at the work session.