Buncombe County staff outline three housing projects in draft Helene recovery plan

Buncombe County staff presented the county's draft portion of the Helene recovery plan and described three housing-related projects the county expects to pursue if adopted.

Kathleen Blackney, Strategy and Innovation, told the Affordable Housing Subcommittee that the Helene recovery plan is a staff-developed list of projects recommended by FEMA and disaster experts to guide recovery after Tropical Storm Helene. “This is not a funding plan, and it's not an implementation plan,” Blackney said, noting the document lists projects the county expects it can reasonably deliver and that implementation, phasing and funding will come later.

Blackney said the draft county portion includes three housing projects: affordable housing development, down-payment assistance for low- and moderate-income households displaced by the storm, and a home-repair grant program focused on storm-related damage. She said the affordable housing development project encompasses three site-specific efforts — Cox Avenue, Ferry Road and Valley Street — and that efforts would include identifying qualified developers and leveraging Low Income Housing Tax Credits and community development block grant–disaster recovery (CDBG-DR) funds.

On down-payment assistance, Blackney said the county intends to target households at or below 80 percent of area median income that were permanently displaced by the storm and noted that applications for those funds would come to the subcommittee for review and recommendation to the full board. She described the home-repair project as a grant program that would assist low- and moderate‑income households with pre-repair and post-repair costs tied directly to storm damage and said staff expect to coordinate with state programs such as Renew NC and local nonprofit partners for referrals and implementation.

Blackney described extensive community outreach used to develop the plan: the county surveyed residents in April and May and said it received more than 2,600 responses gathered through mixed media outreach and in-person events across 13 ZIP codes. She said the draft plan will be shared at the board meeting on Sept. 16, opening a public comment period into early October, with the goal of adopting a final recovery plan in November.

Subcommittee members asked how coordination with municipalities and nonprofit partners will be maintained as projects move into implementation. Blackney said the draft plan notes lead entities by jurisdiction and that county staff have participated in housing recovery support function meetings and the long-term recovery group to coordinate with partners. Members asked follow-ups about capital stacking and how CDBG-DR funds and city entitlement dollars might interact; staff said some coordination questions remain and that they will continue to pursue clarity with state and municipal partners.

Blackney emphasized the draft plan's scope is county projects within Buncombe County's jurisdiction and that additional projects developed by Asheville and the county's five towns will be included in the full recovery plan presented during the public comment period.