Those whose western North Carolina homes were damaged by the remnants of Hurricane Helene must apply before the end of the year in order to seek assistance from the state's home rebuilding program.
As of December 1, more than 6,200 homeowners have applied to have the N.C. Department of Commerce's Renew NC program help rebuild their homes. The program is available to people who earn low-to-moderate incomes in 28 western North Carolina counties and in Mecklenburg County's 28214 ZIP code.
"It's not an onerous application at all, and you may be eligible for assistance that can help your home get either rebuilt or renovated, whatever is needed to happen based on the damage that you suffered from the storm," Gov. Josh Stein told reporters Wednesday.
The September 2024 storm may have caused damage many as 73,000 homes, according to an estimate from the N.C. Office of State Budget and Management.
State officials are hoping to receive at least 7,000 applications before the end of the year.
"People are funny. People need a deadline in order to get something in, so the end of the year is the deadline," Stein said.
North Carolina's home rebuilding program is funded by $807 million of a $1.4 billion Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant the state received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
So far, Renew NC has finished rebuilding five homes and has eight more under construction. Another 13 projects are set to move into the construction phase, while 63 have been assigned to general contractors.
Homes that received some assistance from either FEMA or their private insurance company can apply to the Renew NC program, which is intended to provide help once other funding streams have been exhausted.
Renew NC also plans to use CDBG-DR funds to build multi-family housing and housing that can be purchased by families whose incomes are defined as low-to-moderate income.
Stein said Wednesday that the $191 million multifamily housing program will begin "in the first part" of 2026, while the $53.4 million workforce housing program will come later.
"We have to stage these programs because we have limited staff," Stein said.
To apply for assistance from Renew NC, homeowners can:
- Visit www.RenewNC.org
- Call 888-791-0207
- Visit permanent in-person application centers in Asheville, Boone and Marion or centers with limited hours at 13 other western North Carolina locations.
