State outlines Renew NC single-family housing program: Buncombe applicants among 141 assessed, most need full reconstruction

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Stephanie McGar, deputy secretary with the state Division of Community Revitalization, briefed Buncombe County commissioners on RenewNC, the state's program to administer HUD Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding for recovery from Tropical Storm Helene. McGar outlined program structure, eligibility, outreach, and current application counts for the single-family housing program.

McGar said the state division administers $1.4 billion in HUD CDBG-DR funds for community development block grant disaster recovery; the program includes housing, infrastructure and economic-revitalization components. The state contracted with an implementation vendor, Horn, to manage intake, case management and builder coordination, and separately contracted with builders so that builders are not captive to a single vendor.

Eligibility and process: McGar summarized HUD program constraints. Applicants must have owned the home at the time of the storm and continue to own the property, and the property must be a primary residence that shows damage tied to the storm. Applicants must be current on property taxes or on an approved payment plan and similarly current or in good standing on mortgages. Program income tiers follow HUD definitions and prioritize low-to-moderate-income households. In the state's prioritization, the highest priority is households at or below 60% of area median income in HUD's designated "most impacted and distressed" (MID) areas and households with seniors, children, or disabilities.

Application counts and Buncombe figures: McGar reported the state had received more than 1,300 applications statewide (she later clarified that 1,300 was a statewide count) and said Buncombe County had 141 applications submitted; the program team had assessed 79 Buncombe parcels for damage and found 71 of those likely require full reconstruction rather than repair. McGar said the program expects many applicants will require reconstruction because of the severity of damage.

Capacity and outreach: McGar acknowledged early issues with outreach and with subcontractor arrangements in parts of Western North Carolina and said the state had required Horn to revise its outreach approach. She said Horn moved away from an earlier local subcontractor and increased direct outreach, which corresponded with a recent rise in applications statewide (from about 950 to 1,300 over roughly two weeks). McGar said the state had hired local staff in Western North Carolina and opened in-person application centers in Marion, Asheville and Boone and that Horn staff conduct outreach at community events.

Program scale and caps: McGar said the state expects to serve roughly 2,000 to 3,000 households across the 28-county MID area, depending on damage severity and replacement costs. She also said the replacement cap for the largest homes has been raised (transcript discussion corrected to indicate an increase from $375,000 to $450,000 per home). The single-family application period runs through Dec. 31.

Appeals and eligibility: McGar described an appeals process in which an applicant can first appeal to Horn (the implementation vendor) and then to the state division for review. She said common reasons for ineligibility included issues with income documentation, secondary residence/seasonal homes, duplicate applications and properties not meeting HUD-eligibility definitions.

Commissioners asked about outreach effectiveness, capacity versus need, and the potential to make a new request to the federal government if unmet needs can be demonstrated. McGar said state leaders, including the governor, have advocated in Washington and that the state is compiling data on unmet need that could support additional federal requests.

What commissioners should know: McGar stressed that the CDBG-DR program is intended as a funding source of last resort and that data and applicant documentation are critical to demonstrating unmet need and securing additional funding. She encouraged counties to help identify local needs and to provide accurate damage counts.

No formal county action was recorded; the briefing was informational.