It has been a busy week at the North Carolina General Assembly, and we’ve been in the building monitoring developments around disaster recovery and resiliency: both examinations of past recovery efforts and potential threats to the future of the state’s recovery infrastructure. This week, the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations Subcommittee on Hurricane Response and Recovery held a hearing, the NC General Assembly convened and adopted SB 382 – Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes, and leadership changed at the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR). These developments have us concerned about what comes next as we begin a yearslong recovery effort in Western NC.
Monday, November 18, 2024 – NCORR Hearing
The Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations Subcommittee on Hurricane Response and Recovery met for about two hours on Monday to discuss the latest updates and concerns regarding North Carolina’s hurricane recovery efforts. Laura Hogshead, the Director of NCORR, and Pryor Gibson, former NC Representative and current senior advisor for legislative affairs for Governor Roy Cooper, were called upon to answer the variety of questions asked by the committee. Here are a few key highlights from the hearing:
- After an operational review in late October, NCORR notified the NCGA of an approximately $175 million budget shortfall.
- The funding gap grew following an accounting review, and NCORR asked the NCGA for $265 million to continue their homeowner recovery program without interruption for the 1,400 homes remaining in NCORR’s rebuilding and repair queue. Their funding ask also included $43-46 million that was previously in consideration to be removed from 5 different Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) projects in the east.
- Currently, NCORR is spending about $2.1 million per month in temporary housing relocation for those impacted by Matthew and Florence and still waiting on home repairs.
- Several members questioned NCORR’s processes and whether the agency should be trusted with any money or resources for Hurricane Helene.
- Members of the subcommittee from Western NC communicated that they want to wrap up the Matthew and Florence recovery in order to begin moving forward with Hurricane Helene recovery.
As you’ll see below, this hearing had a significant impact. Lawmakers and impacted families are understandably frustrated at the lack of progress and transparency at NCORR; however, in the wake of Hurricane Helene, it is critical that our state’s disaster recovery office remains operational as we begin another historic recovery effort.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 – NC House adopts SB382 Conference Report
The general assembly convened on November 19th and November 20th to discuss and adopt the conference report for SB 382 – Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes. Despite having “Disaster Relief” in its title, the conference report is far from a disaster relief bill. Here are some highlights:
- $227 million from the Savings Reserve to be transferred to the unallocated Helene Fund (Section 1.A.5) (see below).
- $50 million transfer OSBM Disaster Relief Reserve for allocation to the Office of Recovery and Resiliency to “support homeowner recovery projects under the Rebuild NC program from the 2024-2025 fiscal year” (Section 1F.2.(a)).
- Language that requires NCORR to enter into Subrecipient Agreements by December 31, 2024 and proceed with development projects from Round 3 of the Affordable Housing Development Fund Program (Section 1F.2.(e) to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Pamlico County, Scotland County, the Town of Maysville, and the Town of Beulaville.
- Several extensions to permits and development approvals for impacted areas were made, as well as for temporary structures and any infrastructure needed to sustain them in disaster impacted areas.
It is important to note:
- There is no language giving explicit authority to begin setting up the infrastructure needed for the federal Hurricane Helene Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.
- The $227 million transfer of funds to the Helene Fund is unallocated, meaning the money is not yet being funneled into any disaster relief efforts, but rather held in reserve to be used at a later date for disaster relief.
- No rental assistance for Hurricane Helene was included.
- The public version of the report was made available about two hours before members scheduled to vote.
Additional housing-related components that stand out include a clause at the very end titled “No Local Government Initiated down-zoning without consent of affected property owner in Section 3K.1.(a). The clause amends a section of G.S. 160D-601(d), establishing no amendment to zoning regulations or a zoning map that down-zones property shall be “initiated, enacted, or enforced” without the written consent of all property owners whose property is the subject of the down-zoning amendment.
During the discussion on the floor, several members expressed deep concerns with the bill. Representative Rudow highlighted that there are about 4,800 people in the region still in FEMA hotels who need housing assistance and “cannot resume life until they have housing”. Rep. Rudow highlighted that the last bill had $1 million in direct assistance and SB382 has nothing. He also highlighted that the City of Asheville has set aside $1 million for rental assistance, which is as much as the state has given to date in rental assistance.
Representative Lindsey Prather mentioned that after 52 days, Asheville finally has clean water back. She highlighted the difference between Hurricane Helene and other storms, emphasizing that Helene caused three times the damage of any other storm and that the “storm is different, so the recovery is different. We cannot use the same playbook.”
Representative Eric Ager highlighted the importance for speed when it comes to disaster recovery and called out the bill for moving money around in Raleigh but not “getting into the hands of the people in need.”
The House of Representatives voted and adopted the conference report for SB 382 – Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes around 8:00 pm, with 63 members voting in favor and 46 members voting against, including three Republican representatives from the Western part of the State.
The General Assembly seems to be waiting on the federal government to make a disaster allocation before they make a state level investment for housing recovery in the West, leaving impacted folks waiting as they try to make decisions about what’s best for their families. While legislators in Washington appear to be moving more quickly this time around, it could be months to years before North Carolina receives federal disaster funds, and whatever we receive will likely not be enough to fully recover.
On Wednesday, November 20, 2024 – NC Senate adopts SB382 conference report
Following its passage in the House of Representatives the day prior, the Senate convened to discuss and adopt conference report SB 382 – Disaster Relief-3/Budget/Various Law Changes after about an hour of debate. It passed with 30 Senators voting in favor and 19 voting against. Much like the previous day’s debate with members of the House, a few Senators highlighted the lack of true disaster recovery assistance in the bill, the significant policy and process changes proposed, and the disappointment that despite being the Senate’s third time voting on funding for Hurricane Helene recovery, the proposal did not prioritize meeting the direct needs of those impacted.
Wednesday, November 20, 2024 – NCORR Leadership Change
The Department of Public Safety announced late Wednesday afternoon that Laura Hogshead is no longer leading the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency. In the interim, Pryor Gibson will lead the agency. This change comes after a long and troubled recovery effort, and because it is such a critical moment for disaster recovery and resiliency in North Carolina, it’s important to provide context for the events that lead to this decision, and to emphasize the state’s recovery needs moving forward.
In 2014, the NC General Assembly completely dismantled the ecosystem that our state depended on to respond to Hurricane Floyd in 1999. Hurricane Matthew hit just two years later in 2016, followed closely by Hurricane Florence 2018. The NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency was created in 2019 to coordinate the state’s response to these and future disasters, but they had to rebuild this infrastructure from scratch while simultaneously managing recovery efforts for two generational storms. The federal CDBG-DR allocation that the state received was only half of what Governor Cooper previously requested and didn’t arrive until 2020, two years after Florence. The same year, the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly disrupted supply chains and other systems that severely impacted construction costs and, as a result, ongoing recovery programs. While being charged with these recovery efforts, NCORR was also tasked with deploying the largest rental and utility assistance program in our state’s history. While we are still falling short in many respects, it is important to recognize the historic headwinds that this agency has faced while trying to meet the need for North Carolinians impacted by multiple storms and a global pandemic.
Now, almost six years after the formation of NCORR and ten years after the original ecosystem was gutted, we once again have infrastructure at the state level for disaster recovery. This means that as we turn our attention to recovery for Hurricane Helene, which was three to five times greater in magnitude than Matthew and Florence, we are in a much better place than we were in 2018. The recovery ecosystem is active again, and mistakes made have resulted in lessons learned along the way.
Even with the recent passage of SB382, significant gaps in Helene Recovery Funding remain, and the future completion of recovery from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence is at stake. As we turn to new NCORR leadership, a new Governor, and new leadership at the NC General Assembly – and while we are once again in storm recovery mode – we have to make sure we can apply the lessons we’ve learned to meet yet another generational challenge. Our policy decisions must truly prioritize quick and comprehensive recovery efforts for those impacted throughout Western North Carolina.
