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Haywood County hears HOME consolidated-plan overview and CDBG closeout for armory rehab; 30-day comment period opens for HOME draft
Summary
Southwestern NC HOME Consortium project manager Lynnae Schuler summarized the consortium's 2026—2030 HOME consolidated plan and the board opened a 30-day public comment period (May 5—June 5). McGill Associates presented a CDBG closeout and described armory rehabilitation work and expenditures; public comment was offered and none was recorded at the meeting.
Lynnae Schuler, project manager for housing with the Southwestern NC Home Consortium, presented the consortium's draft HOME consolidated plan for 2026—2030 at the Haywood County commissioners meeting on May 4. The plan, for which Haywood County serves as lead entity for the seven-county consortium, outlines regional housing needs and priorities for the next five years and how HOME funds from HUD would be used.
Schuler said the draft reflects stakeholder meetings, public surveys and data analysis, and that key priorities include expanding affordable housing supply, preserving and improving existing housing, improving housing stability and addressing homelessness. She told the board the plan also incorporates the consortium's 2026 annual action plan and that the consortium anticipates using approximately $422,000 toward new construction activities in the 2027 spring application cycle. "The plan draft reflects extensive input gathered over this past several months," Schuler said. The board opened the hearing and recorded no public speakers; the draft comment period begins May 5 and closes June 5.
Separately, McGill Associates representative Karen Kina presented a closeout summary for three CDBG grants administered through the North Carolina Department of Commerce that supported pandemic-era rental/utility/mortgage assistance and the rehabilitation of a decommissioned National Guard Armory for emergency services use. Kina reported that the rental/utility assistance program (implemented by Mountain Projects) served 94 households and that prior grant awards for armory-related work were expended. She described abatement work (lead and asbestos removal), electrical and plumbing upgrades, a new roof and other improvements to make the armory suitable as an emergency shelter and operating facility. Kina said an additional $2,000,000 component of the armory project remains pending and under development.
The board invited public comment on both hearings and, seeing no speakers, closed each hearing. Schuler said the HOME draft will be available on the Southwestern NC Home Consortium website and via direct distribution to participants in the planning process.
