Ron Grindstaff, right, comforts his wife, Marie, as they remove belongings from their home in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 30, 2024 in Old Fort, North Carolina. (Photo by Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images)
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced this week that it is issuing $3 million in grants to North Carolina to support people experiencing homelessness in communities impacted by Hurricane Helene.
Funding from the Rapid Unsheltered Survivor Housing (RUSH) program is intended to help individuals and families experiencing homelessness or those at risk of homelessness and have needs that are not served or met by existing federal disaster relief programs.
Adrianne Todman during a recent trip to Durham. (Photo: Greg Childress)
“While we are still assessing the full impact of Hurricane Helene in North Carolina, we know the breadth of destruction warrants immediate funding to supplement emergency assistance for people at risk of or experiencing homelessness,” Acting HUD Secretary Adrianne Todman said in a statement. “HUD is committed to working with state and local leaders in North Carolina during their long road of recovery ahead.”
RUSH funding is available to help communities provide outreach, emergency shelter, rapid re-housing, homelessness prevention assistance and supportive services in declared disaster areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has declared a major disaster in 25 counties in North Carolina and for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians due to Hurricane Helene.
Eligible counties include Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Buncombe, Burke, Caldwell, Catawba, Clay, Cleveland, Gaston, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Lincoln, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Mecklenburg, Mitchell, Polk, Rutherford, Transylvania, Watauga, Wilkes and Yancey.
HUD explained in its news release that while FEMA, the American Red Cross and local community members have stepped up to assist survivors, the severity of the damage and displacement experienced in North Carolina has exceeded local capacity and more assistance is needed.
RUSH funding can be used to help people:
Experiencing homelessness before the disaster, emergency shelter, rapid re-housing, which provides up to 24 months of rental assistance, financial assistance for move in costs and supportive services.
Who are at-risk of experiencing homelessness before the disaster, homelessness prevention, which provides up to 24 months of rental assistance, utility assistance and supportive services for people at risk of homelessness and outreach assistance, including assistance to meet urgent needs.
HUD also noted that the agency recently streamlined its process for requesting additional flexibility on existing grants after a disaster is declared. Recipients of annual HUD funding may now request waivers to accelerate the use of their funding for disaster response and recovery. The flexibilities will allow recipients to expedite the recovery process, reduce administrative burden and allow impacted jurisdictions to quickly tailor programs and activities to address the post disaster needs of impacted communities, the agency said.
The expedited process will allow HUD to quickly provide regulatory and administrative relief to recipients of the following HUD programs: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME), Housing Trust Fund (HTF), Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), and Continuum of Care (CoC). To expedite the use of these funds, HUD’s state and local partners impacted by declared disasters can now access waivers through an expedited approval process.
Examples of HUD’s flexibilities include:
HUD may suspend a cap limiting CDBG expenditures for public services to 15 percent so that CDBG grantees can pay for additional support services for individuals and families affected by declared disasters. Services could include the provision of food, emergency shelter, case management, and related services to help residents in declared-disaster areas until long-term recovery resources become available.
When extensive damage and destruction to the housing stock occurs in impacted areas, HUD may enable CDBG grantees to replace affordable housing units that were lost as a result of severe weather, waiving restrictions on new construction.
The HOME matching contribution requirement may be waived for communities in the declared disaster areas.
ESG may be used for more than the usual 24 months on rental assistance and housing relocation stabilization services for low-income individuals and families. For more information on the new waiver process, please review the guidance here.