Lumbee Tribe awarded $7.4 million for affordable housing

By Staff Report, posted Nov 1, 2023 on BizFayetteville.com

Lumbee Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery - Photos provided by Lumbee Tribe

Lumbee Tribal Housing Complex in Pembroke, NC

The N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) has awarded $43.2 million from the Affordable Housing Development Fund (AHDF) to four municipal governments and the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina to increase community resilience.

Local and tribal governments were encouraged to apply for financing for single-family homeownership development or multifamily housing rehabilitation or new construction outside of the 100-year floodplain. The funds will be used to increase the availability of safe, affordable housing in areas of the state that experienced major damage from hurricanes Matthew and Florence.

“This third round of affordable housing funding is particularly exciting because five local and tribal governments are first-time recipients of the long-term disaster recovery housing grant program,” said Michele Wiggins, NCORR housing opportunities manager, in a press release. “The funds will play a critical role in replenishing single and multifamily units damaged and destroyed by past storms.”

The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina was awarded funding to support an initiative to build 30 single-family homes and will target individuals at 80 percent or below Area Median Income. This project also has designated housing units for veterans and those with physical disabilities. It will leverage other funding sources from the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act and local HUD Community Development Block Grant funds. NCORR awarded the project $7,425,000 to complete the $11,016,500 total cost.

“I want to thank my team for securing this historic $7.4 million in funds from the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency,” said Lumbee Tribal Chairman John L. Lowery in a press release. “We look forward to building 30 single family homes and securing a brighter future through homeownership for these Lumbee families.”

Lumbee Tribal Administrator Ricky Harris said the funding will allow the tribe to tremendously grow efforts to assist families with housing.

“This year we celebrated construction of our 250th home and we currently have single-family home construction underway at several sites across the Lumbee Tribal Territory,” said Harris in a press release. “This funding will allow us to expand on our efforts with construction of new homes for families.”

The Affordable Housing Development Fund Program is supported by North Carolina’s HUD Community Development Block Grant–Disaster Recovery funding for hurricanes Matthew and Florence and Tropical Storm Fred. It is one of multiple housing programs overseen by NCORR through its Community Development Office, which also administers the Multifamily Development Fund, Public Housing Restoration Fund and Infrastructure Program. In addition to disaster recovery and affordable housing, the office manages programs that support resiliency, mitigation, strategic buyout, infrastructure and local government grants and loans.

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