The White House has approved Asheville’s spending plan for $225 million in disaster recovery funds. Two months ago, City of Asheville leaders agreed to remove language about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from the plan.
Money will go towards rebuilding infrastructure and housing, small business recovery and climate resiliency. The Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program issued the grant after Hurricane Helene.
Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer, this week, called the grant a “transformational opportunity.”
“We were very unlucky to be hit by this storm, but lucky to have the Congress come together so quickly to help put together a package,” she told BPR in a phone interview.
HUD requires that 70% of the grant money be spent in ways that benefit low-to-moderate income households.
But federal officials also forced the city to remove language that would have prioritized assistance for Minority and Women-Owned Businesses as part of a $15 million Small Business Support Program.
“Obviously, this is a confusing signal,” Manheimer said, referencing the DEI objections alongside restrictions related to income-based grants. “And then, of course, we have a situation where the executive is signing orders that say things like ‘you can't have any DEI.’ And the staff and these departments are trying to figure out how to interpret the differences.”
Ultimately, the city will focus on spending money based on HUD’s guidelines, she said.
“We will dutifully carry out the spending as required,” the mayor said.
What does the money support?
The city has six years to spend $225 million, per HUD guidelines. As written, the action plan allocates the following:
- $125 million for infrastructure
- $52 million for economic revitalization, including:
- $17 million in small business support
- $5 million in workforce development
- $30 million in commercial district revitalization
- $31 million for housing, distributed as:
- $28 million for affordable housing construction
- $3 million for reconstruction and rehab projects
- $14.9 million for administration and planning
- $2 million for public services
Beyond these buckets, not much has been decided about how the money will be used.
“The document is broad enough that a lot of different options can be considered,” Manheimer said.
There’s been a lot of public interest in the money. The city held a months-long community input process that included six public meetings and a 30-day public comment period. Feedback is documented on the last pages of the city’s action plan.
Some residents are campaigning for an update to downtown Asheville’s performing arts center, which has suffered from disrepair. Another idea is to build a flood-resilient music venue in the River Arts District, which saw a lot of flood damage from Helene.
Manheimer’s not sure if these kinds of projects would qualify.
“If one of these facilities were to qualify, it would have to demonstrate that it's going to employ people that fit the demographic required,” she said. “So it's not an issue of who's necessarily using the facility, but how many jobs it creates and for whom those jobs get created.”
Manheimer, along with others on City Council, will vote on projects as staff presents proposals eligible for the funds. She said she’d like to prioritize affordable housing and shoring up the city’s aging water systems.
“I've been fairly laser-focused on trying to do all we can to create the greatest amount of resiliency in our infrastructure to guard against future storm events,” she said. “But I'm also very, very excited about how much money we're going to see come into our city and our region for housing.”
What’s next?
HUD still needs to certify the city is prepared to effectively manage the grant funds. Then, HUD will distribute a grant agreement, which will enable city staff to put together specific proposals for projects.
“We’re talking every day about how to use these funds effectively and efficiently in our community, including developing program area guidelines and manuals,” Nikki Reid, the city’s Community and Economic Development Director, wrote in a press release.
“Planning projects, such as the French Broad Riverfront Parks Recovery project, are being identified, and programs will be rolled out as they are created. We expect the first programs to kick off this fall.”
The city is also required to submit quarterly reports through the federal Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting
System. Reports must be posted on the city’s official disaster recovery website within three calendar days of HUD’s review.
