The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Transitional Sheltering Assistance program, which is paying for displaced people to stay in hotels after Tropical Storm Helene, has been extended until Jan. 11, but experts worry where survivors will live after that.
During an affordable housing listening session Dec. 9 hosted at The Western Piedmont Council of Governments office in Hickory and streamed online by FEMA and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, experts discussed how Helene exacerbated the housing crisis in Western North Carolina. The two federal agencies solicited input to allow the government develop action plans for recovery.
“FEMA is providing a great service to people who are served by temporary housing assistance, but it really delays the question: What happens when that assistance runs out?” said Geoffrey Barton, president and CEO of Asheville-based affordable housing builder Mountain Housing Opportunities. He also serves as a commissioner on the City of Asheville’s Planning and Zoning Commission.
“For people who are currently supported in hotel rooms, they will not have homes to return to unless there is kind of a mid-term housing solution.”
Crews work to clear out deris weeks after Tropical Storm Helene devastated the River Arts District in Asheville, NC., on Saturday, Nov. 16, 2024.
He called for FEMA to consider extending temporary assistance even further.
According to FEMA’s Dec. 5 announcement extending Transitional Sheltering Assistance, more than 10,000 households from North Carolina stayed in participating hotels using the program. About half of those have moved on to other housing, but more than 4,900 families remain checked into hotels.
Barton said that Mountain Housing Opportunities owns two properties in Asheville’s River Arts District that provide affordable housing — one with 60 units and one with 22 units. Both flooded during Helene and the 22-unit building is still not habitable.
Barton said that various municipalities and faith-based organizations have been offering rental assistance programs, but many of those have small balances and the onus has been on tenants to find and cobble together funds.
“Resources are coming in limited buckets and then exhausted really quickly,” Barton said.
Building brand-new housing takes years, he said, explaining that his agency is now developing a project in Waynesville that received funding in wake of Tropical Storm Fred in the fall of 2021.
The Black Mountain Manufactured Home Community is pictured in Swannanoa, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. The neighborhood was devastated by Tropical Storm Helene.
Barton worried about vulnerable populations and described some of the area’s intractable problems: it’s hard to find buildable land in mountainous terrain; municipalities have restrictive zoning laws; and neighbors with a “not in my backyard” attitude may oppose the construction of new housing. He mentioned a report commissioned by the Asheville City Council in 2022 that predicted 15,000 residents would move to the city by 2040 and the 7,500 new housing would be needed by then.
“We’re really facing some anxiety among the local business community about how they’re going to have a long-term recovery if they can’t stably house the workforce,” he said. “So there will need to be tremendous rental assistance, not just in this immediate post-storm phase but in the long-term recovery in order to keep people stably housed.”
The funding puzzle
Will Parry-Hill, Deputy Executive Director of the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, a public entity that provides affordable housing, said that funds for housing typically take significant time to be allocated after a disaster.
“We don’t have any additional resources earmarked directly for disaster recovery at this time,” Parry-Hill said.
After Hurricane Matthew in 2016, $20 million was allocated to his agency through the state’s housing trust fund, but it was stipulated as funds of last resort, only available to homeowners who were not able to get assistance from insurance, FEMA or other programs, Parry-Hill said. Eventually, almost 500 single family homes and 48 homes in one multifamily building were rehabilitated through that program.
Following Hurricane Florence in 2018, the General Assembly allocated $10 million, with which his agency helped finance 11 new properties in 11 counties.
Joseph Kemper carries replacement wood boards into the home of his mother in Black Mountain Manufactured Home Community in Swannanoa, N.C., Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. The neighborhood was devastated by Tropical Storm Helene.
Julie Porter, president of nonprofit real estate development and finance corporation DreamKey Partners, described the challenge of piecing together funding. One single project required funds from eight different sources, including tax credits and grants from foundations.
“Banks right now, on the investment side, are warning us very strongly: ‘There may not be the appetite for tax credits that there was in the past, and you need to prepare for that,’” Porter said.
Operating costs are on the rise, especially insurance, which rose 30 percent in a year, she said. If the incoming presidential administration imposes tariffs on lumber, affordability could get even worse, she said.
“I’m more worried now than I’ve been in 30 years,” she said.
Deirdra Funcheon covers Henderson, Polk and Transylvania Counties for the Hendersonville Times-News. Got a tip? Email her at DFuncheon@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: FEMA extends hotel vouchers to Jan. 11 in NC after Helene