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Asheville council frames four recovery priorities and calls for coordinated federal, state and philanthropic support
Summary
Council and staff at a retreat grouped recovery work into four action buckets—People, Economy, Infrastructure and Housing—while staff highlighted an upcoming FEMA inspection schedule and a $225 million HUD CDBG-DR allocation; speakers urged coordinated advocacy with state, federal and philanthropic partners to move funds to projects and capacity-building quickly.
At the retreat facilitators proposed four recovery priority buckets—People, Economy, Infrastructure and Housing—and council members debated scope and sequencing as staff flagged partner actions and funding sources.
Bridget Herring, the city’s sustainability director and deputy recovery coordinator, highlighted operational milestones already completed and under way and noted an important funding resource: "We ended up in a $225,000,000 direct allocation from HUD for CDBG-DR," she said, describing the size and significance of that federal investment.
Facilitators and council members discussed how the city’s $249,000,000 annual budget compares to disaster funding and warned that managing and spending recovery dollars will require significant capacity. Council members emphasized the need to coordinate with federal partners (FEMA, HUD, Army Corps, DOT, SBA), with the North Carolina WNC Recovery Committee and relevant state agencies, and with philanthropic actors such as Dogwood and the Community Foundation to fill gaps and build local nonprofit and contractor capacity.
Participants identified roles for the private sector and community organizations: hotels and other businesses provided shelter early in response and remain part of temporary housing solutions; nonprofits and faith groups mediated local distribution of food and supplies; and peer cities and subject-matter experts can help the city avoid reinventing recovery solutions. Facilitators urged that council consensus and a consistent message will make advocacy to state and federal decision-makers more effective.
City staff said hazard-mitigation and other state and federal programs (including a large hazard mitigation program linked to FEMA) offer additional funding avenues for buyouts, flood mitigation and infrastructure upgrades but warned that some grant processes require significant technical preparation and time; staff and council agreed on the need for capacity-building grants and philanthropic support to scale local implementation.
Facilitators closed the session by asking councils to think about how each of the four priority buckets should be translated into concrete, timebound actions in tomorrow’s breakout sessions.
