N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency partners with Haywood County to assist storm-displaced homeowners and first-time homebuyers

Comunicado de Prensa en Español

The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) is supporting Haywood County in the April 22 launch of their Homeownership Assistance Program (HAP) to assist homebuyers displaced by Tropical Storm Fred or first-time homebuyers that are income qualified. More than $1 million is available to offset homeownership costs, including up to 30% in down payment assistance and up to 5% in closing cost assistance. Homebuyer education and counseling will also be offered and must be completed prior to closing.

"NCORR looks forward to supporting Haywood County in its efforts to increase homeownership, through a new program that will offer enhanced awards for often overlooked public servants and first-generation homebuyers." said Tracey Colores, NCORR Community Development Director.

The Homeownership Assistance Program-Haywood County will be operated through a collaboration between Haywood County and the NCORR Community Development Office. The program will serve low- to medium-income households purchasing a home in Haywood County. Details about program eligibility and awards, as well as the program manual, can be found on the Haywood County HAP webpage.

The program is just one of several in Haywood County that is replacing housing lost due to Tropical Storm Fred. The community continues to recover from storm damage that resulted in hundreds of destroyed structures in 2021. In addition to the HAP, NCORR and Haywood County are partnering to manage an Affordable Housing Development Fund to provide new affordable housing development projects.

On Monday, April 15, Haywood County Commissioners received additional information about the progress of the program in advance of its launch.

The Homeownership Assistance Program-Haywood County is supported by North Carolina's HUD Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding for Tropical Storm Fred. The HAP program is one of multiple housing programs overseen by NCORR through its Community Development Office, which also administers the Affordable Housing Development Fund, Multifamily Development Fund, Public Housing Restoration Fund, Homeownership Assistance Program and Infrastructure Recovery Program. In addition to disaster recovery and affordable housing, the office manages programs that support resiliency, mitigation, strategic buyout, infrastructure, local government grants and loans, and pandemic-related rent and utility assistance.

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