ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. -- Eight months after Florence, housing is still an issue for some communities in eastern Carolina hit hard by the hurricane. With so many homes damaged, people are being forced to find new places to live and at a price they can't afford.

  • Now some of those communities are getting some help from local, state and federal government and passing it down to the people in need.
  • Gov. Roy Cooper says $336 million isn't enough.
  • Eight hard-hit communities in the eastern part of the state will get $2.7 million from the 2019 state Rural Housing Recovery Fund to help address affordable housing shortages.

Now some of those communities are getting some help from local, state and federal government and passing it down to the people in need.

While federal housing authorities awarded more than $336 million to North Carolina to address damaged housing, businesses and infrastructure brought on by Hurricane Florence, Gov. Roy Cooper said Tuesday that wasn't enough.

Instead, the governor's office announced Monday that eight hard-hit communities in the eastern part of the state will get $2.7 million from the 2019 state Rural Housing Recovery Fund to help address affordable housing shortages.

$350,000 of that money is going to the City of Jacksonville to invest in sidewalks and infrastructure surrounding a brand new apartment complex, the Windgate Park Apartments off Foxhorn Road. The $7.2 million private public partnership project is almost complete. It will house 56 families, with affordable rates that start just below $500 a month for a one bedroom.

“We have affordable housing units that we lost. Some will be a permanent loss, some will be repaired and returned,” said Lillie Gray, the Director of Community Engagement for the city of Jacksonville.

This grant is just one of many the city and Onslow County plan to apply for thanks to a newly formed Onslow Strong Disaster Relief Alliance. It is a national initiative, supported by FEMA to work in conjunction with the community, local partners, the county and city government.

The Chair of the newly formed alliance is the Director of the Onslow County United Way. Raquel Painter will chair the alliance, and says 19,000 residents applied for FEMA in the county and many still need help, which is mostly in the form of affordable housing.

Those Onslow County Residents who need Hurricane Florence and Matthew related help can contact Tia Feller at the United Way at 910-347-2646.