RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina is directing two major housing initiatives toward Hurricane Helene-affected Western North Carolina, with more than $69 million awarded for affordable rental projects and a separate $53.38 million workforce-homeownership funding opportunity now open.
The first program awarded more than $69 million in federal Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding to 10 rental-housing projects expected to create 828 affordable units, according to the North Carolina Department of Commerce.
The awarded projects are in Ashe, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Haywood, Henderson, Rutherford, Transylvania and Watauga counties. Commerce said the funding will provide gap financing alongside Low-Income Housing Tax Credits administered by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency. The rental units must remain affordable for at least 30 years.
The second initiative is not an award. It is a $53.38 million funding opportunity for workforce-housing projects designed for homeownership in 16 Helene-affected counties.
Eligible households may earn up to 80% of area median income. Applicants may include for-profit and nonprofit developers, community land trusts, public housing authorities, local governments and qualifying joint ventures. Commerce expects individual awards to range from $2 million to $5 million.
The eligible counties are Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Cleveland, Haywood, Henderson, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga and Yancey.
Applications opened Aug. 25 and are due Dec. 13, 2026, at 5 p.m., according to the program’s official Notice of Funding Opportunity.
For businesses, the programs address a constraint closely tied to the region’s recovery: whether workers can find housing within reach of jobs. The rental awards add subsidized housing supply, while the homeownership program targets workforce households and the developers and local governments serving them.
Commerce did not provide completion schedules for the 10 rental projects. The workforce-housing program does not yet have recipients because the application period remains open.