Asheville City Council authorized the City to amend the interlocal agreement with Buncombe County to provide additional funding for the County’s rental assistance program at their May 13 meeting.
The City of Asheville was awarded a one-time grant of $1,748,141 for disaster response in November 2024 by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
From the initial grant, the City has provided $624,000 to support Buncombe County’s Helene Recovery Housing Assistance Grant program. With the funding provided by the City, 160 Asheville families have received up to 3 months of rental assistance with an average grant amount of $3,554.
The amount granted through tonight’s amendment is a combination of two sources of funding: $125,000 from the CDBG-Declared Disaster Recovery Fund (DDRF) grant plus an additional $10,074.80 remaining from prior years’ non-emergency grant funds. The total amount of these funds add to a total of $135,074.80.
| Funding Source | Amount |
| CDBG-DDRF (Administrative) | $125,000 |
| Prior years’ grant funds | $10,074.80 |
| Total amended funds | $135,074.80 |
These additional funds will ensure that more low-income families receive support who were not previously awarded funding as part of the application process. It is anticipated that an additional 27 Asheville families will receive urgently needed rent relief.
This agreement will now be considered at the Buncombe County Commission meeting on May 20, 2025.
For more information related to Asheville’s recovery process, visit our Asheville Recovers site.