The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) called out Asheville, North Carolina, for including diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) criteria in its draft action plan to address the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, with Sec. Scott Turner saying the plan is “unacceptable.”
Turner, who announced that “DEI is dead” as his department cancelled $4 million in contracts promoting the leftist ideology last month, made it clear on Tuesday that his intention is to help victims of Helene’s devastation — provided Asheville comes into compliance with President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI executive order.
Asheville’s draft plan, released last week, features a $15 million Small Business Support Program that would “prioritize assistance for Minority and Women Owned Businesses.”
The plan also states that city officials will “provide targeted outreach and assistance to historically underserved groups, including racial and ethnic minorities, seniors, low-income residents, and persons with disabilities as appropriate.”
Turner responded to the plan in an official HUD statement as well as on Fox News with host Maria Bartiromo, stating that “this draft action plan has elements of DEI… and that is not acceptable to HUD, it’s not acceptable to the president according to his executive order.”
HUD is working with Asheville, NC to make sure their upcoming draft action plan does not use federal dollars for DEI.
— Scott Turner (@SecretaryTurner) March 11, 2025
President Trump is here to help the people of Asheville recover, not push a DEI agenda. pic.twitter.com/JSlcUyoLqN
“HUD looks forward to helping thousands of North Carolinians rebuild after Hurricane Helene by directing funding assistance to impacted businesses, non-profit organizations, and neighborhoods,” the secretary said in his statement. “However, Asheville’s draft action plan incorporated DEI criteria to prioritize some impacted residents over others, which was unacceptable.”
He added that Asheville officials have since “assured us that it was updating its draft action plan to be compliant.”
“Once again, let me be clear, DEI is dead at HUD. We will not provide funding to any program or grantee that does not comply with President Trump’s executive orders,” Turner reiterated.
The City of Asheville made the following statement, obtained by ABC13 News, in response:
We are in daily communications with our HUD representatives. We have taken proactive steps to resolve any issues and meet federal standards for activation of critical recovery resources for all residents. We remain committed to working with our federal partners until final submission of the plan in April.
According to HUD, the department has already allocated $225 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding to Asheville for unmet disaster-related needs following Hurricane Helene.
