Asheville weighs affordable housing funds for repairs or new units

Asheville is deciding who should get housing help first when recovery money is scarce: low-income homeowners whose storm-damaged houses need repairs now, or renters waiting on new affordable apartments that do not exist yet.

The city’s choices are getting bigger fast. HUD approved Asheville’s $225 million disaster-recovery plan in May 2025, giving the city six years to spend the money, with 70% required to benefit low-to-moderate income households. Of that total, $31 million is set aside for housing, including $28 million for affordable housing construction and $3 million for reconstruction and rehab. That split captures the central fight in Buncombe County recovery policy: every dollar used to rebuild one home is a dollar not used to create a new unit, and every dollar spent on new construction leaves one more damaged house waiting longer for repairs.

One project already moving forward shows what the construction side looks like in practice. Asheville has pledged $7.5 million to the 319-B Biltmore project, the second phase of a city-owned development south of downtown. The project is expected to add 112 affordable apartments in a mixed-use building with community amenities and commercial space, and city materials say the new homes will range from 20% to 80% of area median income. Each development in the broader effort carries a minimum 35-year affordability commitment.

The repair side is no less urgent. Buncombe County says the Renew NC Single-Family Housing program, funded by a $1.4 billion HUD disaster grant, can help eligible homeowners repair, reconstruct or replace damaged homes, but only if they owned and occupied the property as a primary residence when Helene hit. Dogwood Health Trust says an estimated 6,000 homes owned by low-income Buncombe and Madison County households already needed repair before the storm. ARCHR, the Asheville Regional Coalition for Home Repair, hopes to serve about 110 low-income households with disaster repairs over the next two years and has already completed more than 300 home inspections.

The city has already used part of its recovery dollars on immediate rent help. Asheville says it directed $624,000 to Buncombe County’s Helene Recovery Housing Assistance Grant program, helping 160 Asheville families receive up to three months of rental assistance at an average of $3,554. The city later added another $135,074.80, enough to help an estimated 27 more families.

The long runway for 319-B Biltmore also shows how much patience Asheville has already invested in new supply. The city issued a request for proposals for the 5.3-acre site in February 2020, and the project grew out of years of planning tied to the city-owned land strategy near Lee Walker Heights. With housing advocates still split and 10 groups urging the city not to send more HUD-related money to Renew NC, Asheville’s next decisions will shape not just recovery, but who gets to stay in the city while that recovery unfolds.