HUD approves NC’s $540 million Hurricane Florence recovery plan.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has approved North Carolina’s plan for spending $542 million in Hurricane Florence recovery funds, a crucial step in the money reaching those still suffering from the September 2018 storm.

North Carolina is the first of about 25 grantees receiving recovery funds to have its plan approved, a marked departure from the state’s one-time “slow spender” status.

“It speaks to the strength of the team that we’ve built and the infrastructure that the state has invested in,” said Laura Hogshead, chief operating officer of the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency. “We’re just so happy to be in the position to be able to spend the money now that HUD has finally released it.”

HUD still has to sign a grant agreement before NCORR can enact a plan that will cover an estimated one-third of the remaining Hurricane Florence unmet needs.

The state’s plan emphasizes housing recovery. It plans to spend $325.6 million of the grant rehabilitating or rebuilding housing and $59.7 million developing affordable housing in Eastern North Carolina. NCORR will spend $32.5 million apiece repairing small rentals and buying out homes.

Earlier in April, HUD also approved North Carolina’s action plan for a $168 million Hurricane Matthew mitigation grant, Hogshead said. NCORR is awaiting that grant agreement as well.

Once it is signed, the Matthew action plan calls for $109.2 million to buy out homes in hard-hit areas, $32 million to build affordable housing near the buyouts and $10 million to help public housing agencies move residents out of flood-prone areas.

“Many North Carolina families are still struggling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Florence, and even in the midst of a pandemic we’re the first state in the country to receive approval on a plan to start drawing down these funds,” Gov. Roy Cooper said in a prepared statement. “I’m proud of our team working so hard through these challenging times to get people the help they need as quickly as possible.”

Help for homeowners, renters

More than 18 months after Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, more than 12,000 homeowners and 3,500 renters remain waiting for help, according to the Florence grant action plan.

There are still about $1.51 billion in unmet needs statewide from the storm, according to the plan. Those needs include $734 million in housing repairs, of which $177.4 million is renter-occupied.

That means, even after the Florence grant is spent, there will be $970 million in remaining unmet needs.

Last month, Hogshead told a state House committee that NCORR will need permission to hire additional staff members to handle the new funds. When the General Assembly created NCORR, it authorized 45 staff slots for the office.

Hogshead estimates NCORR will need 50 to 60 more employees.

“We have the right structure for our office, and we have all the components we need,” Hogshead said Thursday. “We just need more finance people to process more homeowner checks, and we need more policy people and more compliance people.”

Any additional staff approved by the General Assembly would be paid by the grants, not the state. That could be an important point as the coronavirus continues to impact budgets.

The Hurricane Florence grant is actually made up of two awards. A $336 million tranche was part of an October 2018 bill, and an additional $206 million tranche was included in a June 2019 bill.

Waiting for funds

Accessing the recovery funds is a prolonged bureaucratic process for state governments.

After being awarded the grant, North Carolina needed to publish an action plan describing how it would spend the money. But before doing that, it had to wait for HUD to outline the rules in a Federal Register notice.

HUD published that notice in January, exactly 500 days after Hurricane Florence made landfall, Hogshead told the committee. North Carolina, she added, was able to lean on ongoing conversations with HUD to publish its action plan quickly thereafter.

North Carolina will need to spend 80% of the Florence money in areas designated by HUD as the most impacted by the storm. That area spans the state’s southern border from Robeson County to the coast before turning northward to Carteret County. It also includes Duplin County and specific ZIP codes in Bladen, Cumberland, Pamlico and Scotland counties.

Homeowners will be able to apply for grants up to $70,000 to help repair homes, replace mobile homes or elevate their structures.

NCORR will decide to repair or replace buildings on a sliding scale, automatically repairing those with less than 50% damage, letting homeowners decide whether to replace or repair those between 50% and 80% damage and replacing those above 80%.

In addition to administering the Florence funds and Matthew mitigation grant, NCORR is continuing to spend a $236.5 million Hurricane Matthew recovery grant. As of April 23, the agency had committed $189.4 million of that grant, with construction ongoing at 302 homes and 205 others completely repaired.

This reporting is financially supported by Report for America/GroundTruth Project and The North Carolina Local News Lab Fund, a component fund of the North Carolina Community Foundation. The News & Observer maintains full editorial control of the work. To support the future of this reporting, subscribe or donate.