In a visit to Western North Carolina Tuesday, the acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced a total of $1.6 billion dollars in disaster block grants for communities devastated by Hurricane Helene.
Speaking to a room full of local officials and small business owners at Mountain BizWorks in downtown Asheville, acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman said the money will help support local businesses, increase workforce training opportunities, rebuild infrastructure and more.
“I am happy to be here today to deliver on the president's commitment by awarding $1.4 billion to the state of North Carolina and an additional $225 million to the city and people of Asheville so that you can rebuild homes, bring back businesses and restore hope,” Todman said.
The money, part of the Community Development Block Grant program, was included in the bipartisan government funding legislation approved by Congress and signed into law by President Biden last month.
At the event, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer said the funding is an “important first step” toward rebuilding after Helene. She recounted the pain the city and the region have experienced in recent months.
“I kind of can't believe we're here,” Manheimer said. “I just get a little teary thinking about it — all the time we stood in the wreckage and the dark. And it's hard to believe it only happened a few months ago, that we're here today talking about this kind of funding to help us rebuild.”
The funding won’t be available immediately; there’s a lengthy process that involves action plans and public engagement. But Gov. Josh Stein, who also attended the event, said HUD is working on cutting through the red tape and that the money should be ready before the end of the year.
“I look forward to prioritizing with the leaders of Western North Carolina as we determine where and how these funds can have the maximum impact on people's lives and livelihoods,” Stein said.
Stein also signed an executive order this week aimed at getting heating fuels to Western North Carolina residents more quickly.
‘A wonderful life’
Earlier Tuesday, Stein and Todman met with Old Fort resident Stephanie Grooms, whose home was swept away by the floodwaters. The three spoke outside Grooms’s new travel trailer, which sits on a muddy stretch of land overlooking Mill Creek and the mangled remains of the Norfolk Southern railroad line.
Grooms said she had lived on the property for more than 25 years in a doublewide trailer and had “a wonderful life” next to the creek, where birds, fish and wildlife were abundant.
She evacuated to Black Mountain when Helene hit and was only able to return to her property once the floodwaters had receded four or five days later.
“My home was all gone. All gone. Everything,” Grooms said, her voice full of emotion.
Grooms said she has been living in a motel since the storm. She will now be living in the temporary travel trailer, which was installed on her property this week courtesy of FEMA and the state.
“I feel very blessed,” Grooms said. “And I just want anyone that is out there still in a tent and a sleeping bag, whether they are this or that, just to have shelter.”
Grooms’s trailer is one of three that have already been installed in the wake of Stein’s executive order last week expediting the process for the state to purchase up to 1,000 temporary housing units for victims of Helene.
Eighteen more trailers are currently in the process of being installed, Stein said Tuesday.
Western North Carolina residents interested in applying can call (844) 746-2326 to speak with a disaster case manager. For more information on the state’s Disaster Case Management Program, click here.
