Orange County’s Board of Commissioners recently approved bridge funding to help residents displaced as a result of flood damage sustained during Tropical Depression Chantal. Until last week, funds provided by the county and Town of Chapel Hill paid for hotel rooms to temporarily house flood victims, but that emergency housing fund is now dry.
The $20,000 transferred from the county’s Social Justice reserve to the Department of Social Services (DSS) will both work to extend temporary housing for flood victims and help pay the application fees and security deposits for new units. Qualifying county residents include those earning up to 200 percent of the poverty level and who were displaced from their primary residence.
The funds will particularly support residents of Camelot Village, a lower-income neighborhood located in the floodplain of Bolin Creek. In an interview with 97.9 The Hill on Aug. 27, Chair of the County Commissioners Jamezetta Bedford said while some of the 25 residents staying at the hotel are about to move into permanent homes, others still rely on the temporary housing…