On the eve of his Western North Carolina visit, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin has signed off on more than $26 million in hazard mitigation funding that could finally get long delayed home buyouts moving in Polk, Yancey and Henderson counties, Sen. Ted Budd announced today.
The money is meant to reimburse property owners whose homes were hammered in recent storms and to move dozens of those properties into the state’s pre-offer buyout process ahead of Mullin’s tomorrow swing through the region.
Glad to share that ahead of his visit tomorrow, @SecMullinDHS has approved $26M+ in Hazard Mitigation funds to reimburse property owners for dozens of homes across WNC in Polk, Yancey, & Henderson counties. Grateful for his efforts to ensure these funds move after long delay. https://x.com/i/status/2041198132801740810
— Senator Ted Budd (@sentedbuddnc) April 6, 2026
What the announcement says
In an X post today, Sen. Ted Budd said Mullin had approved more than $26 million in Hazard Mitigation Grant Program funding to reimburse property owners for “dozens” of homes in Polk, Yancey and Henderson counties. He highlighted that the move came ahead of Mullin’s April 7 visit and framed the decision as long awaited follow-through after a prolonged delay in getting money to Western North Carolina homeowners. According to Budd’s post, this was the first time those specific counties were publicly identified in connection with this funding.
Where this fits in Helene recovery
The newly cleared dollars appear to be part of the same Hazard Mitigation Grant Program pot that has been supporting buyouts and elevation projects tied to Tropical Storm Helene. In January, Blue Ridge Public Radio reported that roughly $26 million in HMGP investments had already been approved for Western North Carolina. That earlier approval opened the door for the first properties to enter the state’s pre-offer sequence, setting the template for what this new batch of homes is expected to follow.
How buyouts move from approval to offers
Federal sign-off is only the starting gun. After DHS and FEMA clear funding, counties and the state are responsible for the on-the-ground work: surveys of each property, professional appraisals and detailed briefings for owners before any actual purchase offers land in mailboxes.
North Carolina Emergency Management laid out that process during a March 4 kickoff meeting for 47 Buncombe County properties that are already in the acquisition pipeline. Officials walked homeowners through the step-by-step sequence from surveys to appraisals to formal offers and explained that the state fronts the cost of this work while later seeking reimbursement from FEMA. Local reporting has closely followed those Buncombe cases as the first wave to move into appraisals and offer scheduling.
Politics and a new DHS secretary
The slow pace of reimbursements has been tied to both internal agency policies and a larger funding fight in Washington. Secretary Mullin, who was sworn in this March, has been portrayed as trying to unclog some of those bureaucratic bottlenecks inside DHS.
AP News reported that Mullin quickly rescinded a prior rule that had required unusually high-level sign-offs for many DHS expenditures. Officials hope that rollback will ease choke points for FEMA reimbursements and help move mitigation money, including flood buyouts, more efficiently.
What homeowners should expect now
Even with this latest approval, local and state officials are signaling that affected residents should settle in for more waiting before they see concrete offers.
Blue Ridge Public Radio has previously reported that once federal dollars are cleared, the money still must get through a congressional-notification period and county-level pre-offer steps. All of that can stretch timelines by days or weeks before any individual owner sees an appraisal or a formal purchase offer. County project managers are expected to be the main points of contact once the state issues detailed schedules for surveys and appraisals.
Still, the April 6 announcement is a practical turning point. If Mullin’s approval holds and the associated paperwork moves without fresh snags, dozens of Western North Carolina homeowners could finally see a defined path out of damaged or flood-prone properties. Local officials and residents alike will be watching closely during the secretary’s April 7 visit for any clues about how fast the next steps will unfold and how firmly the federal government intends to stick to this new timeline.
