Helene recovery officials from Gov. Josh Stein's administration told lawmakers Wednesday that they are still hoping to begin rebuilding homes destroyed by last September's storm within the next two months.
Matt Calabria, the director of the Governor's Recovery Office for Western North Carolina, told lawmakers the state still hopes to begin construction within a year of September 27, 2024, when Helene caused widespread devastation throughout the region.
"It is virtually unheard of for a (Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery)-funded program for home rebuilding and reconstruction to have started within one year, but that's still our goal. ... We know we can never be moving fast enough, but at the same time, we have made good progress in comparison to our peers and our past," Calabria said.
Calabria and N.C. Emergency Management Director Will Ray were appearing before a joint House and Senate Government Operations Commission subcommittee on Hurricane Response and Recovery.
Home building would be funded by a $1.4 billion grant the federal government has awarded North Carolina, funds the state has yet to receive.
The state and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which administers the program, cleared a key hurdle by finalizing a grant agreement last week, Calabria told lawmakers. Still, the state needs to take additional steps before it can actually receive the funds, including completing an environmental review.
"There's a lot that is still in process," Calabria said.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly appropriated $120 million for a home rebuilding program that is consistent with the HUD block grant.
Those funds, Calabria told lawmakers, have allowed the state to begin procurement for the rebuilding program, let it set up offices and begin collecting applications from people interested in receiving funding.
North Carolina officials have received at least 800 — and likely more than 900 — applications for home rebuilding, Calabria said. But physical work cannot begin until the federal grant money arrives.
"We are moving through site assessments and prioritizations and that sort of thing. So we are as ready to go as we possibly can be, given the federal constraints, but as soon as we get that money and we get through the required processes I expect we'll be moving pretty quickly," Calabria said.
Western NC officials frustrated at pace of recovery
Republican lawmakers on the committee remained skeptical.
Rep. Mark Pless, R-Haywood, expressed frustration that the state has not yet rebuilt any of the thousands of homes Helene either damaged or destroyed. The first frost could come within eight weeks, Pless said, and families throughout the region remain in limbo.
"Those folks are calling me and they're saying, 'When can I get something done? I have applied, I haven't heard a word. I'm trying to move forward but I can't.' The folks who have the funds to do this aren't calling me, but this is for the lower-income folks, the middle-income folks that have no other options except us," Pless said.
Constituents are, lawmakers told Stein Administration officials, looking for tangible signs of progress instead of bureaucratic results.
"The folks in Western North Carolina, a lot of them don't care about what we're talking about today. What they care about is help. Seeing somebody pull up in the driveway, get out, put a nail apron on and a hammer and go to work. They want to see their houses rebuilt," said Rep. Karl Gillespie, R-Macon.
Sen. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson, also rued how bureaucracy is impacting the recovery from Helene.
While he appreciates the deliberate approach state officials are taking with the disaster funds that have been appropriated, Moffitt said, "I would settle for a little reckless spending right now, just to get the money into the hands of the people that need it."
Moffitt pointed to a $200 million crop loss recovery program that was part of a Helene relief package signed into law in March. State officials have an onus to get those funds out the door not only responsibly, but also quickly, Moffitt said.
Federal funding lagging?
State officials estimate that about 20% of the estimated $60 billion in damage Helene caused has been funded. That includes $6 billion from insurers and private companies, $3.8 billion from the federal government and $2.1 billion from the state government.
But about $48 billion in damages remains unfunded.
During Wednesday's hearing, state emergency management officials said the amount of money the federal government has appropriated for the Helene recovery is so far lagging far behind disasters of similar scale.
So far, the $3.8 billion the federal government has either spent or awarded for disasters totals about six percent of the estimated damage. Typically, Calabria told lawmakers, the federal government will cover about 45%.
The state expects to receive more than $7 billion in additional funds from various grants as part of the federal government's 2024 American Relief Act.
"The federal government is the biggest potential source of funding for Helene recovery, but it's also one of the slowest moving," Calabria said.
Gov. Josh Stein in February requested a total of $25.27 billion from the federal government for Helene recovery, including an additional appropriation from Congress of $11.4 billion. That request included an additional $4.75 billion to rebuild roads, $2.1 billion to help rebuild homes and $820 million to help businesses via a forgivable loan program and to help businesses become more resilient from future floods.
State emergency management officials also said a policy that Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem sign off on all FEMA contracts greater than $100,000 is slowing recovery efforts.
Ray, North Carolina's emergency management director, said FEMA higher-ups should visit Western North Carolina to understand the impacts their policies are having on the recovery.
"They need to come and see and understand, on the ground, what some of these decisions that are being made, what the cascading impact of that is on the ground," Ray said.
He continued, "So, a memo of, you know, all expenses over $100,000 being approved at a very high level federally, what does that slow down do to federal funding here in North Carolina? And I think we have case studies and examples that we can continue to reinforce and show."
