HUD Secretary Turner Returns to Asheville, Rejects City's $225 Million Recovery Plan

HUD Secretary Scott Turner arrived in western North Carolina on March 11 and delivered a blunt verdict on Asheville's blueprint for spending $225 million in federal disaster recovery funds: the city's draft action plan would not be approved in its current form.

Turner, confirmed to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development on Feb. 5 after previously heading the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council, toured Hurricane Helene damage sites and met with stakeholders including Mayor Esther Manheimer, U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards, artists and small business owners in the River Arts District, and local homeless-service advocates. In Fletcher, Turner and local officials met with Samaritan's Purse, which has maintained a presence in the region since Helene struck in September 2024.

The rejection centered on language in Asheville's draft action plan for HUD's Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program. HUD's statement quoted the specific passage it found objectionable: "Within the Small Business Support Program, the City will prioritize assistance for Minority and Women Owned Businesses (MWBE) within the scoring criteria outlined within the policies and procedures." Turner's office characterized that language as DEI criteria that would "prioritize some impacted residents over others."

"DEI is dead at HUD," Turner wrote in a statement released the same day as his tour. "We will not provide funding to any program or grantee that does not comply with President Trump's executive orders."

City officials responded by assuring HUD they would update the draft plan to bring it into compliance. Turner, while touring Helene damage sites later in the day, did not address the statements he had made earlier.

The $225 million CDBG-DR allocation was originally made under the Biden administration to help Asheville address unmet needs from a storm that inflicted more than $1 billion in damage to the city and caused a $17.6 million revenue loss. That figure represents one portion of a broader $1.6 billion in CDBG-DR funds HUD announced in January for the State of North Carolina and the City of Asheville combined. HUD also released an additional $1.9 million in Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing grants in late February, building on an earlier $4.5 million allocation directed at homeless needs in disaster-affected areas.

The city's public comment period on its HUD spending plan runs through April 3. Asheville City Council is expected to vote on a final action plan on April 8, with HUD-funded projects slated to begin by fall 2025.