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Asheville to transfer $624,000 in CDBG disaster funds to Buncombe County for rental assistance; county to administer payments
Summary
City staff recommended an interlocal agreement to have Buncombe County administer $624,000 in CDBG disaster-rental assistance funds to serve Asheville residents. Officials said the county is already processing thousands of applications and the city will provide the federal funds in advance for emergency disbursement.
Assistant City Manager Ben Woody told council staff are recommending an interlocal agreement with Buncombe County for distribution of $624,000 of CDBG disaster rental assistance funds, with the county administering the money through its Helene Recovery Housing Assistance Grant Program.
Woody said the council allocated the $624,000 at the Dec. 10 meeting and staff’s recommendation is to have the county manage eligibility and disbursement so the funds are available only to city residents. He noted James Shelton was on the call to answer detailed county questions.
Council Member Kim Roney asked about the county’s application funnel after reviewing the county’s slide deck; she said it showed 5,826 applications with 51 approvals and asked why so many applications remained pending and whether the city should distribute funds among multiple partners.
James Shelton, on the call as Buncombe County staff, said about 60 percent of applicants are Asheville residents and roughly 70 percent of applicants are requesting rental assistance. He explained that Buncombe County has prior experience with CDBG programs and federal reporting requirements, which staff said supports fast disbursement.
Shelton described the city’s federal rules as an entitlement community that typically reimburses subrecipients, and said that, “in this case, we are, for emergency purposes only, amending our rules as a CDBG community, to allow for an advanced payment.” He said the county will submit a pro forma invoice for how it intends to use the dollars, and the county will report back to the city to confirm expenditures followed the approved plan.
Staff and councilors also discussed demand estimates. Shelton said the county had received “about 5,000” applications and that average requests are roughly $1,500 per month for up to three months; he cautioned that the total requested amount was not precisely known but said the applications could represent in the “tens of millions” in requested assistance. Woody added that Buncombe County has allocated $1,200,000 of ARPA funds to the rental-assistance pool; combined with the city’s $624,000, staff estimated the county would have about $1.8 million for rental assistance under the current allocations.
Woody said general-fund rental assistance already contracted with local partners (Evelyn Charities and Grace Covenant) is largely allocated, with possibly about $50,000 remaining under negotiation with Operation Gateway; staff expects reporting from those partners by the end of the month.
