Asheville weighs shifting disaster funds from housing to storm repairs

More Asheville homeowners could get storm repairs sooner, but $9.2 million for new affordable apartments could be pushed back if city leaders approve a plan to redirect disaster recovery money into home rebuilding.

At a May 7 City Council briefing, staff laid out a proposal to move $19.2 million into North Carolina’s Renew NC home repair and reconstruction program. The package would take $10 million from infrastructure work and $9.2 million from the city’s affordable multifamily housing construction program. If the transfer moves forward, Asheville’s single-family recovery allocation would rise to $22.2 million, an amount staff estimated could help about 55 to 65 households.

The choice has become one of the most sensitive parts of Asheville’s Helene recovery because it pits immediate relief against longer-term housing supply. Families still living with roof leaks, structural damage and other storm fallout would move closer to repairs. But the city would also be trimming one of its main tools for adding affordable apartments at a time when rents remain tight and displacement pressures are still felt across Buncombe County.

The stakes are amplified by the size of the city’s broader federal recovery pot. Asheville’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery action plan totals about $225 million and was approved by HUD in May 2025 after the Asheville City Council first sent it forward on April 8, 2025. The approved plan set aside $125 million for infrastructure, $52 million for economic revitalization, $31 million for housing, $11.2 million for administration, $3.7 million for planning and $2 million for public services.

The home-repair debate also follows a smaller city-state partnership that underscored how much demand remains. Asheville and North Carolina formalized a $3 million agreement in January 2026 to support the Asheville Single-Family Home Repair Program. The application period had already been open since June 2025, and city officials said that pool was enough to fix only about eight homes.

That is why the current proposal is being viewed as a now-versus-later decision. More money for Renew NC would speed help to owner-occupants waiting to return to livable homes. Keeping the $9.2 million in the multifamily program would preserve some of the city’s planned affordable-housing pipeline, including a $10 million application cycle Asheville opened for developers in 2026.

Asheville’s four Helene Recovery Boards were created to add transparency and community input to the process, but the final choice still carries a simple consequence: either more damaged homes get repaired sooner, or more affordable apartments remain on the drawing board longer. “We moved quickly because we understand how critical this funding is for our community,” Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said.