MAYSVILLE, N.C. (WITN) – An eastern Carolina city is being asked to pause its affordable housing projects.

A field on Jenkins Ave behind the Dollar General in Maysville was supposed to be the future home of an apartment complex called White Oak Landing. The apartment complex would have 40 multi-family units.

A resident who grew up in the area says affordable prices are a must. “Good, that’s really good. I would be 100% excellent,” Jammie Meadows said.

But that all changed Monday when the state announced the $9.725 million earmarked for Maysville and Jones County would instead go toward disaster relief in Western North Carolina. When Maysville City Manager Schumata Brown heard about it, he was shocked.

“They’re going through a terrible time,” Brown said. “It was a disaster, but we can’t forget that this money was also intended for disaster relief that happened here in Jones County.”

Funding was directed to Jones County as a whole after Hurricane Florence hit the area in 2018.

“We saw houses flooded,” Brown said. “Many families were affected and had to leave the county. »

Funding was announced on October 31, 2023. A year later, the project was suspended after Helene reached Western Carolina.

“The developers have already spent money up front on site plans and environmental reports,” Brown said. “We have the drawings of what that would look like, so investments have been made in those 40 apartments.”

Brown says they don’t know what’s next and how long this will be on hold, but he’s hopeful for the future.

“The community was excited,” Brown said. “This is detrimental to our community and I hope we can get the funding back.”

Other counties that received funding after Hurricane Florence for affordable housing were Duplin and Pamlico. Beulaville’s city manager told WITN he hopes to find replacement funding within the next 60 days.

Pamlico County City Manager Tim Buck also said they don’t receive funding either.

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