A nonprofit has received a grant to develop land for affordable housing in Black Mountain.
Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders was granted $850,000 by The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina for this project, according to a June 27 news release. The grant is contingent on the acquisition of the property and the structure of a community land trust.
Nathan West, director of operations for Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders, said the project will include 56 affordable homes at 399 Blue Ridge Road in Black Mountain.
“We’re still working on our matrix,” West said. “But when I say affordable, I mean deeply adorable. This is intended to be something that a person can live in for less than what it costs to rent a two bedroom apartment around here.”
He said the price of the homes are “effectively going to be a sliding scale” and that the cost for each home will be different based on who is purchasing it.
The project will include the 56 units, as well as a dog park, playground and community garden. West described the property as “beautiful” and that the project will provide “safe and secure housing.”
West, who lives in Black Mountain, said Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders comes into disaster zones and helps rebuild homes. Since Tropical Storm Helene hit the region Sept. 27, 2024, West said the nonprofit has had more than 2,200 volunteers come through to help in Western North Carolina.
“We take it from the beginning to the end,” West said. “When people sign up with us, we really get in there and are really with them the entire way.”
He described Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders as a “one stop shop” for rebuilding and connecting to resources.
When looking at the Swannanoa Valley specifically, the need was clear, according to West.
“The biggest need, in our opinion, in the community is housing for people who can’t afford to live here to begin with and probably lost it during the hurricane,” West said. “The real estate market around here and land prices are absolutely astronomical.”
West said he started looking for a way to keep “the most vulnerable population housed in the region because those are the people that make the would go round here.” The result was the 56 home project.
West said The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina funds will be used for infrastructure projects such as sewer and water lines, paving, stormwater runoff and other similar projects.
Tara Scholtz, senior program officer with The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina, said working with Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders on other projects and having conversations with them made the grant possible.
“We worked with them as much as they worked with us,” Scholtz said.
West said the project will go in front of the Black Mountain Board of Adjustment for approval July 17.
“It’s just going to be a pretty amazing project for this region,” West said. “We have needed something like this for a very long time, and if ever there was a time with the political capital, the funding, the donations and everything, now is the time.”
Karrigan Monk is the Swannanoa Valley communities reporter for Black Mountain News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at kmonk@blackmountainnews.com.
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