Asheville Revises Disaster Relief Proposal That Prioritized DEI After HUD Secretary Rejects It

The mayor of Asheville, North Carolina, says the city has revised its $225 million disaster relief proposal after the Trump administration rejected the original plan, which prioritized race and sex for aid.

Democratic Mayor Esther Manheimer made the announcement on Wednesday, WLOS reported, one day after Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner released a statement saying the city could not receive the money unless it removed the DEI requirement from its proposal.

“We have modified the action plan to reflect his concerns, and we’ve been told the changes that we’ve made were acceptable,” Manheimer said when announcing the revision.

Turner released his statement on Tuesday before touring the damage from Hurricane Helene in Fletcher, North Carolina.

“HUD looks forward to helping thousands of North Carolinians rebuild after Hurricane Helene by directing funding assistance to impacted businesses, non-profit organizations and neighborhoods,” Turner said. “However, Asheville’s draft action plan incorporated DEI criteria to prioritize some impacted residents over others, which was unacceptable. After HUD informed Asheville that its plan was unsatisfactory and it would not be approved, the city assured us that it was updating its draft action plan to be compliant.”

The reversal from Asheville comes after the city initially doubled down on its proposal to prioritize disaster relief based on sex and race, The Daily Wire reported. The city said in its 2024 Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery action plan, released this month, that the plan’s Small Business Support Program would “prioritize assistance for Minority and Women Owned Businesses (MWBE) within the scoring criteria outlined within the policies and procedures.”

Before that, in November, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners, which is controlled by Democrats, released its small business relief grant program, and the residents asked the Trump administration to intervene in January.

The proposal was met with a complaint from the Western North Carolina Citizens for Equality, which argued against the county’s “focus” on hurricane relief for “BIPOC” and “women” owned businesses damaged in the hurricane, The Daily Wire reported at the time.

“In this situation, there is no doubt that Buncombe County intended to discriminate against white business owners in its Helene Relief Project. The County directed that the funds be used in a manner that prioritizes one group of business owners over another based solely on skin color,” the complaint says.

In March, the city released the aforementioned proposal, which still contained the sex- and race-based aid priorities.

Manheimer “reassured” constituents that the $225 million for disaster relief was not at risk.

“They’re very eager and continue to be eager, this administration, to help support the recovery of [Western North Carolina], including Asheville, and we’re very appreciative of that.”