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Buncombe rental assistance, emergency housing code approved as Helene took 8,200 jobs

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Buncombe rental assistance, emergency housing code approved as Helene took 8,200 jobs

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ASHEVILLE – As more than 1,600 people remain in transitional housing and the region continues to struggle with an economic downturn after Tropical Storm Helene, the Buncombe County Commission moved to amend emergency housing zoning code and approve grants for housing and small business assistance during their Nov. 19 meeting.

In Buncombe alone, over 900 housing units have been damaged or destroyed. As Federal Emergency Management Agency manufactured housing units arrive, the county had “pulled out every stop” in their administrative efforts to allow residents to develop emergency housing, county Planning and Development Director Nathan Pennington said during the meeting. The amendment to zoning code would help streamline the process, Pennington said.

“I want to be clear, we have done as much as we can at the administrative level. That’s why we are bringing this to you tonight. To bring it to the next level,” Pennington said.

The amendment requires residents provide proof that the structure on the site was occupied and then damaged or destroyed during a declared disaster before establishing emergency housing on the site. It qualifies emergency housing as “travel trailers, manufactured housing, building-code compliant structures for habitation, or other FEMA-approved shelters as a temporary use, related to a declared federal, state, or local disaster, for people.”

Approved sites are for temporary use, being permitted for two years after the disaster. Sites can be reapproved for one additional year.

According to the latest reports from the county, 1,664 households are checked into transitional sheltering assistance — meaning hotels or other short-term housing solutions — through FEMA, according to a Nov. 19 Buncombe County briefing presentation. Four FEMA housing units have been placed on private sites, but more housing will need to be built. The amendment is to essentially allow the county residents to get housed and “get through winter,” Pennington said.

In order to expedite building, County Manager Avril Pinder said the county is currently investigating whether they can waive certain building codes mandated by the state and FEMA about wastewater and water piping being under the frost line when building emergency housing.

Pennington said that proposed group sites — which are temporary housing sites developed through FEMA — will need a to be “a little bit better serviced” with water, power and waste distribution systems.

“The last thing we want to do is take one person from a harmful situation and put them in another harmful situation. That’s why it’s not a good idea to put RVs in floodways,” Pennington said of group sites, saying they need as much “flexibility as possible” to develop them.

Housing aid distribution and housing aid applications have begun in Buncombe County. Already, FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program has received 166 applications from Buncombe County homeowners since opening on Nov. 12, according to a Buncombe County Nov. 19 commission briefing. That program provides aid to homeowners in the form of property acquisitions, elevations and reconstruction.

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8,200 jobs lost after Helene; relief funds coming

The commission expedited the process of distributing nearly $3.2 million in previously allocated American Rescue Plan funds into household assistance and small business grants targeted at Helene recovery efforts as the area continues to face an economic downturn from the storm.

More than 8,200 jobs were lost in the Asheville Metropolitan Statistical Area in October, according to a Nov. 19 news release from the N.C. Department of Commerce. The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority has indicated that the tourism industry, which employs much of the area’s workforce, is currently down roughly 70%.

As county residents continue to face evictions and monthly rent payments, the commission approved the contract with Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church to distribute over $1.5 million to households in Buncombe County that have experienced economic impacts from Helene and are at 80% area median income. Currently, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development sets the 80% limit at $52,350 for a single person in the Asheville-area.

Commissioner Al Whitesides said that he had visited Grace Covenant alongside fellow Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara. He called the opportunity to have the church distribute the funds “money well spent.” The church currently acts as a distribution site from 12-4 p.m. every day. The county’s timeline sets distribution beginning in December, where the funds will be used for life essentials like utility bills, rent or mortgages, internet access or groceries.

For small business support, the county has selected Mountain BizWorks as the local nonprofit that will administer over $1.5 million in local small business grants supplied by the county. Many small businesses are seeing 60-70% less in revenue compared to this time last year and others have been entirely destroyed, according to a Buncombe County presentation.

The program will provide grants small businesses with up to 200 employees, regardless of industry. Impacted businesses may request up to $25,000 and priority will be given to the most impacted areas and companies, according to a Nov. 20 Mountain BizWorks news release on the Asheville-Buncombe Rebuilding Together Grant fund.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at WHofmann@citizentimes.com. Consider supporting this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

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