The Asheville City Council provided several local charities with funds to help residents with rental aid following Hurricane Helene.
Now some Asheville city council members are expressing concern that local nonprofit Eblen Charities is not distributing city-sponsored rental aid fast enough.
Of the $500,000 the city gave Eblen in late November to stymie evictions brought about by the economic fallout of Hurricane Helene, $202,000 remains undistributed, the nonprofit confirmed.
Kathy Soule, Eblen’s Development and Events Director, told BPR that the rest of the money is “projected to be used up by mid-March.”
At the beginning of February, the nonprofit temporarily paused applications until March 3 in order to process a backlog of applications.
It has served 113 households in total. BPR asked Eblen for the total number of applications received and processed, but Eblen did not reply by publication time.
In a contract obtained by BPR, Eblen said it expected to serve a "minimum of 450 low-income households" through the partnership with the City of Asheville.
“My overall concern is whether or not this money's moving fast enough,” Council member Sage Turner told city staff at an Asheville City Council briefing meeting on Thursday. “If we have money that's not going out the door, I'd like to know and move it faster if we can.”
An unallocated sum of money for rental assistance was originally set aside in October, when Asheville City Council voted to allocate $1 million in city funds for the program. Council did not play a role in deciding where the money went, because the resolution gave city staff the choice on where to distribute those funds.
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Of that money, 10% could be used for administrative fees, according to the city.
Nikki Reid, the city’s director of Community and Economic Development, said that Eblen is “doing a lot of work to refine their process” and that the organization is a “good steward of funds.”
Although the organization is “perhaps not as expedient” as other programs, “I really respect the fact that Eblen has a lot of controls in place for proper protocols,” she said.
Growing skepticism and other options
Eblen is not the only nonprofit involved in distributing funds for rental aid.
In mid-December, the city gave $450,000 to Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church who distributed all of the funds within a few days of receiving it, according to Pastor Marcia Mount Shoop.
For months, the church was open daily for low-barrier rental assistance and distributed $4 million total in rent assistance before temporarily pausing and then scaling back its operations to twice a week.
In late January, the city gave an additional $50,000 to Operation Gateway, a nonprofit that works with formerly incarcerated residents. The nonprofit has given $41,014 in support to 27 households, according to Project Manager Jasmine Moore.
In mid-February, council also approved an additional $624,000 in federal funds for Buncombe County’s rental assistance program, which is distributed by the county’s Health and Human Services Department.
Since November, Turner, Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer and Council Member Kim Roney have expressed skepticism over Eblen’s ability to deliver money efficiently.
This week, members debated whether the city should try to clawback the $200,000 in funds from Eblen and reallocate it to a more expedient partner.
Roney and Turner both voiced their support for the measure.
“My hope is to de-personalize this and just really talk about our responsibility to get dollars on the ground,” Roney said.
Council member Sheneika Smith also said she was open to a clawback of funds but raised concern over what happens to the people currently in the queue to receive aid from Eblen.
“What happens to the clawback if they're waiting for a response and they're waiting for dollars, but that money is like put to a halt or their application process is kind of in limbo. Where do we redirect that individual? Where do we redirect those households?” she said.
City Manager Debra Campbell said the city will “try to respond” to the issues and concerns raised by council.
“We just want to make sure that we bring back options and a holistic look at this issue. And not just that we aren't getting money out fast enough, but quite frankly, the money that is being dispensed, who is it going to?” Campbell said.
