NC lawmakers express frustration at slow rollout of Helene recovery funds

Rep. Eric Ager, a Democratic state legislator whose district was heavily impacted by Helene, said it could be summertime at the earliest before $15 billion in federal relief funds reaches the local level.

The General Assembly returned to Raleigh this week, where a committee focused on western North Carolina’s recovery from Hurricane Helene expressed concern about the timeline of getting funding for long-term recovery into the region.

While the General Assembly has passed some relief at the state level, and Congress recently approved billions in funding for the Helene recovery, that money has yet to find its way into local communities where it is most needed, as multiple lawmakers on the House Select Committee on Helene Recovery made clear. 

“I’m concerned that this is great, but it’s not doing anything. It sounds good to the media, and it sounds great. But it does nothing to put my people back where they need to be,” Rep. Mark Pless, a Republican who represents several mountain counties, said.

Pless directed his remarks to Matt Calabria and Jonathan Krebs, who appeared before the committee on behalf of the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC), a team put together by Gov. Josh Stein to lead the recovery effort from Helene.

“We have FEMA funds now that we are actively spending and reimbursing in real time every day,” Krebs said in response, adding that money was also being provided to the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) to rebuild roads. 

The committee met at a pivotal time in the region’s recovery. Just before Christmas, Congress passed a $100 billion disaster relief bill aimed at providing recovery funds for several natural disasters, including Helene. North Carolina is expected to receive $15 billion from the legislation, well short of the projected $59.6 billion cost of fully rebuilding western NC.

A major funding infusion is still months away for western NC

Rep. Eric Ager, a Democratic state legislator whose district was heavily impacted by Helene, said it could be summertime at the earliest before the congressional funding makes it to North Carolina.

“I don’t think that money’s really going to flow until the summer, because they have to put together a plan that says ‘here’s how we’re going to spend it,’ and they’ve got to send that back to HUD [US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development]. HUD has to approve that plan, and then it comes back,” he told Cardinal & Pine.

In early January, former HUD Secretary Adrianne Toddman announced $1.6 billion in grant funding for the recovery efforts, $1.4 billion of which would go to the state, with the remaining $225 million going to the City of Asheville.

Action plans for how this money will be spent are due by this summer, meaning these dollars won’t be at the local level for at least several more months.

Ager’s Buncombe County colleague, State Rep. Lindsey Prather, said the legislature needs to act to support her constituents and the broader region as they wait for federal dollars to arrive.

“I am very concerned about the length of time it is taking to get this money on the ground to the people who need it,” she said. “There’s just absolutely no way that small businesses are going to be able to continue with the revenue that they have now, the cash flow that they have now … and we’ve got to put more into housing. Temporary housing, rental assistance, new housing, all of it.”  

During the hearing, Krebs expressed his concerns that the delay in actually receiving federal funding could further hinder the rebuilding of homes.

“I have concerns that, based off the transition, and that the HUD funds — which are the only dollars that we have available to us regarding housing recovery — that those dollars will be delayed in D.C., outside of our control, for a variety of reasons, and that those delays could put us at risk of not being able to immediately start housing until the fall,” Krebs said.

Ager, meanwhile, expressed concern that some middle-income people may earn too much to qualify for HUD funding, but not enough to pay for the costly rebuilding process, and could therefore be left behind.

“It’s not going to help the retired teachers, retired state workers, and folks who have been in that place forever,” he told Cardinal & Pine prior to the meeting. 

He also expressed this concern to the Grow NC team at the hearing. In response, Krebs and Calabria acknowledged the possibility that some people could be left behind in the end.

“We didn’t get enough money, and it’s very likely that there will be a middle-income group of people that are not going to be served,” Krebs acknowledged, before encouraging lawmakers to reach out to the state’s congressional delegation to request future federal dollars.

Pless expressed skepticism that the federal government will fully fund the Helene recovery, providing an example of a constituent who received funding from FEMA, but not enough to cover the cost of repairing the private bridge she uses to get home. 

“I had a lady call me, and she got $58,000 for a private road and bridge. The problem with that is, the bridge is over $150,000. Great. FEMA gave her money to sit in a bank and wait, but the way it’s being presented is FEMA’s taking care of it, and they’re not,” he said.

What can be done while the state waits for federal money?

The General Assembly previously allotted $100 million in funds to provide loans to local governments impacted by Helene, which is currently being held by the state treasurer’s office.

Rep. Brian Turner, a Buncombe County Democrat, requested to Chair Dudley Greene that the state Treasurer’s office provide an update to the committee at a future date on how it plans to distribute that money.

Greene agreed with Turner. “I think that’s a good suggestion,” he said.

Prather, meanwhile, told Cardinal & Pine she believes those loans need to become grants. “We need to be switching these loans into grants and revenue replacement.”

While they wait for relief, local governments are already seeing massive budget shortfalls. In Buncombe County alone, the government faces a $20 million budget gap, and steep cuts are being proposed to deal with this, including a hiring freeze, and a 4% budget cut for Asheville City and Buncombe County Schools.