Buncombe County reports progress on ARPA, CDBG home‑repair programs; CDBG award to pivot to storm recovery

Buncombe County staff updated commissioners and the affordable‑housing subcommittee on the status of two home‑repair grant programs and how some funding may be repurposed to support post‑storm recovery.

Nancy Williams, a county staff member, said the county’s ARPA Federal Relief Fund (FRF) allocation for home repairs totaled $400,000, with Asheville Area Habitat for Humanity awarded $280,000 and Mountain Housing Opportunities awarded $120,000. "Habitat was awarded 280,000, and Mountain Housing was awarded a hundred and 20 thousand," Williams said. She told the subcommittee the ARPA FRF program runs from November 2022 through June 2025 and did not require a county match.

Williams said the ARPA FRF work targeted low‑ and moderate‑income homeowners (under 80% area median income) and tracked monthly with oversight from the county strategic‑partnerships office. Habitat completed 22 home repairs and expended its award; Mountain Housing had an original goal of four homes but was completing eight, with the final unit expected by the end of the fiscal year.

Williams also reviewed a separate Community Development Block Grant Neighborhood Revitalization (CDBG NR) award of $400,000 from the North Carolina Department of Commerce (Rural Economic Development Division). That award was made in December 2022 and has an extension through June 2026. Asheville Area Habitat was selected as the CDBG subrecipient and contracted for $200,000 early in 2024 with a target of improving 40 households at $5,000 each (Commerce’s per‑unit threshold for this contract).

Williams told the subcommittee that Asheville Area Habitat notified county staff it wanted to exit the CDBG NR contract because the organization was pivoting staff and capacity toward Helene recovery repair work. At the time Habitat notified the county, 14 homeowners had been identified and the county was still completing environmental reviews. Williams said county staff had been in discussions with the North Carolina Department of Commerce (NC DOC RED) about alternative uses of the award to support recovery efforts and expected to provide an update to the subcommittee in summer once the next steps were defined.

Commissioners asked whether federal or state funding could be at risk from delays; Williams said she had not received any communications from Commerce indicating the funds were unavailable and that the funds were held by Commerce and reflected on the federal ledger. Subcommittee members also discussed how to count recovery‑related repairs against the county’s existing 2030 housing goals, noting the challenge of parsing preexisting damage from storm damage when both types of repairs occur on a single property.

Jake, a county staff member presenting quarterly progress metrics, said the department expected to impact 280 households in fiscal 2024 but overshot that figure, reporting 403 households served. "We were anticipating to impact 280 households in fiscal year 20 24. We overshot that by 44% ish and did 403 households," Jake said. He attributed the higher number to rental assistance and an OnTrack home‑buyer class that reaches many participants at once.

Jake reported movement on several construction awards for FY24. Fairhaven Summit had drawn down all but retainage; Lakeshore and Starpoint projects had also started drawing funds or breaking ground. He noted an unallocated general‑fund balance of $379,787 returned to the county after a proposed 9% tax‑credit project (referred to in staff notes as a Swan/Metrola project) failed to obtain credits and was deemed infeasible without them.

Staff and commissioners discussed Dogwood Health’s WNC Affordable Housing Loan Fund (initial Dogwood funding described as $40,000,000) and the loan‑fund manager Self‑Help; staff said they were engaging with Self‑Help to understand how the fund works so county applicants can be advised. Commissioners also raised questions about capital‑stacking DR (disaster recovery) funds with other local resources for mixed‑use projects in places such as Swannanoa.

County staff said they would keep reporting on the ARPA FRF, the CDBG NR pivot for recovery, and FY24/FY25 contract drawdowns, and would return with additional detail and documentation to clarify how recovery dollars would be counted against the county’s 2030 goals.

Ending: The subcommittee closed the agenda item with plans to return in summer with updates from county staff on specific reuses of the CDBG NR award and with more detailed reporting on drawdowns and unit counts.