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Rebuild Upstate Utilizes Disaster Assistance Funding to Serve Families 

One Year After Helene: Rebuild Upstate Utilizes Disaster Assistance Funding to Serve Families 

The one-year anniversary of Hurricane Helene recently passed. Hurricane Helene was a weather event unlike anything any of us living in the Upstate (and Western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee) had ever seen. While our area did not see destruction and flooding as heavy as in Asheville and the surrounding areas, hundreds of Upstate homes experienced severe storm damage. In fact, in South Carolina alone, the cost of damage and response from Hurricane Helene exceeded $370 million. That’s just the financial cost – there were 49 storm-related fatalities in our state.

The devastation was immense. Just as immense was the way our community came together to support one another. In the days immediately after the storm, volunteers and staff jumped right into relief efforts by removing debris and trees from 15 homes in Anderson, Easley, and Greenville.

Earlier this year, we became aware of an opportunity to continue repairing homes that had been impacted by Hurricane Helene and other storms before her through the SC Housing Trust Fund Disaster Assistance Program (DAP). DAP is a block grant program created to address housing recovery needs resulting from recent natural disasters affecting South Carolina. These funds come from the state and are to support storm-related damage repairs, and locally, Anderson County was awarded $688,777, and the City of Greenville was awarded $228,877. 

Both municipalities have chosen Rebuild Upstate as a subrecipient to deploy these funds. Rebuild Upstate recently hired Kathryn Bender, Home Repair Project Manager, to manage the program by vetting qualified homes and matching contractors to complete the necessary eligible work. Rebuild Upstate was first awarded these funds in February of this year and has since completed DAP-eligible repairs on 20 homes. The remaining grant funds must be spent by June 2026. 

What are the qualifications to be eligible for this disaster funding?

  1. There is storm-related damage to the home (ie: roof missing shingles, hail damage, roof leaking, fallen tree limbs on roof, siding ripped off the side of the house, windows damaged, tree landed on the house, etc).
  2. The homeowner is low-income (80% or lower AMI, meaning in Anderson County for one person their income can be no more than $48,800, and in the City of Greenville can be no more than $54,150).
  3. It is an owner-occupied home—the person living in the home owns it.
  4. The home is in a FEMA disaster area.
  5. There are no foreclosures or liens on the home.
  6. The home is in Anderson County or the City of Greenville (but not the City of Anderson).

Rebuild Upstate encourages those who live in Anderson County and Greenville City who have sustained recent storm damage to their homes to apply for the program by completing an application. For questions, contact Kathryn Bender at 864-729-4606. 

A chart of income eligibility limits by county and household size is available for reference below.