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Aging services update: HCCBG caps, reporting-system problems and state storm funds
Summary
Allison, county aging staff, told the Housing Committee that HCCBG-funded home-improvement projects for residents 60 and older carry a $7,000 per-project, per-household cap and that reporting-system problems this year led one provider to relinquish funds.
Allison (county aging staff) briefed the committee on Buncombe County’s aging-related housing supports, explaining how federal HCCBG and county supplemental aging funds are being used for home repairs and short-term housing supports for residents age 60 and over.
“All the different things that the funding can be used for,” Allison said, describing Home and Community Care Block Grant (HCCBG) eligible activities and noting that HCCBG home-improvement projects have a per-project and per-household restriction of $7,000. She said HCCBG-funded home improvements are limited to people age 60 and over.
Allison said Mountain Housing Opportunities received $64,939 in the most recent fiscal year and that the HCCBG committee, pending final federal figures, has recommended a $50,000 allocation for the next fiscal year. The committee also reviewed other HCCBG recipients: United Community Development of North Carolina’s urgent home-repair program was listed in the application as targeting residents 60+ in legacy neighborhoods, but staff reported the group used only about 2% of its award and relinquished the funds after reporting difficulties with the state’s aging resource management system.
On that system, staff described persistent problems: the Department of Health and Human Services aging resource management system is “very old” and “not very user friendly,” Allison said. County staff said Land of Sky (the Area Agency on Aging) and other partners have been advocating for a system update at the state level. Billy Breeden, the county’s aging services coordinator (named in the meeting), offered to meet with the provider to explain reporting requirements and to assist with the system process.
Allison also summarized Buncombe County supplemental aging funds, which county staff use to pay for services outside HCCBG categories for people age 60 and under income thresholds (county staff said recipients are generally at or below 60% of area median income). She said the county received state disaster-related funds after Hurricane Helene targeted adults served by Adult Protective Services or contracted guardianship services; staff said those storm relief funds were specific and not general county dollars. County staff reported using about $31,000 of targeted storm-related funds on housing supports between January and May (home repairs, plumbing, wheelchair ramps and temporary facility placements).
Allison noted the county has an active housing-options-for-aging-in-place work group, led by Billy Breeden, which produced an aging-in-place guide that has not yet been printed. Committee members requested that Billy or members of the work group return to a future meeting to share the guide and work group recommendations.
Ending: Committee members thanked staff and asked county aging staff to follow up on state reporting-system advocacy and provide additional details on allocations when federal numbers are finalized.
