Assistant County Manager Miss Tate announced that Buncombe County has received a Just Home grant intended to support housing solutions for justice‑involved individuals. The award includes planning funds and a capital financing option the county may use to develop housing targeted to populations identified during the planning process.

Why it matters: the grant could support new or rehabilitated affordable housing and related services for people leaving prison, people involved with juvenile justice, or other justice‑involved groups — populations county leaders identified as having acute housing needs that intersect with other systems.

Tate said the grant provides several hundred thousand dollars for a planning period beginning in July and expected to run through December; that planning period will engage stakeholders and people with lived experience to define which subpopulation(s) to serve, the number and type of units needed, and wrap‑around services. The grant also includes capital financing in the form of a program‑related investment (PRI): a loan product of up to $5,000,000, with a 10‑year term at 2% interest, available to support development identified in the planning phase.

County commissioners and meeting participants discussed potential target populations and implementation approaches. Examples cited from other jurisdictions included focusing on juveniles in one jurisdiction; other local options could include new construction, multifamily rehabs, or scattered site approaches. Tate and others emphasized the planning process should identify the target population (for example, juveniles, women, people exiting prison, or families involved with Department of Social Services), the number of units needed, and what supportive services would be required once households move into housing.

Tate noted the county faced post‑storm delays that left it behind other jurisdictions in the grant timeline but that the grant administrators made concessions to help Buncombe catch up. Commissioners and participants flagged related local resources: a state push on prison reentry, county transitional housing sites, and an existing pipeline of units and subsidies (including a reported roughly $2 million for housing subsidies mentioned in the discussion) as potential complements to the Just Home planning.

Ending: Tate asked stakeholders to prepare to participate in July–December planning, to surface existing data for the county’s data review, and to consider which populations and housing models would best meet local needs. County staff said they would coordinate data collection and engagement, including involving state agencies where required for juvenile or licensed housing models.