(The Center Square) — North Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday grilled officials leading the state’s hurricane recovery over delays that have left thousands waiting for relief years after the destruction.
The Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations’ four-hour hearing featured testimony from representatives from Legal Aid North Carolina, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency and the Department of Public Safety on progress rebuilding in the wake of hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018).
The meeting followed a tense hearing in September on the glacial pace of recovery and officials testified on progress to improve the process since then.
NCORR Director Laura Hogshead told lawmakers a transition from a contracted company to in-house processing for applications has cut wait times for awards from 42 months to about 10 months, while increasing grant signings by 120%.
NCORR also worked through 260 appeals since August, including 47% over five months old and have cut the appeal process from an average of 185 days to 29 days. The change means NCORR is now processing about 57 appeals per month, up from about 35.
Hogshead also cited quicker inspection times and faster processing times for relief applications, which increased from a review of 19 per month by the contractor to 188 per month now.
The pace of five homes finished per month from January to August 2022 increased to 17 in November, in part by moving faster through the eight step process. NCORR also increased the number of finished projects by 100 since September, including 74 completed homes and 26 concluded with cash payments, Hogshead said.
Out of a total of 4,313 applications for relief, only 889 have been completed, NCORR data shows. Hogshead blamed much of the delay on the process to obtain federal funds, zoning and permitting and the weather.
The agency streamlined the process for paying contractors with the goal to cut processing to 14 days and plans to hire a check-writing vendor to make direct payments to contractors starting in January.
“We always need more general contractors, that’s why we focused on paying them faster,” Hogshead said.
Many lawmakers were unimpressed by the progress, including some that called on Hogshead to resign.
Sen. Jim Perry, R-Lenoir, highlighted 100 families identified during the September hearing that lawmakers asked to be prioritized and in their homes by Christmas. Hogshead said 18 of the 100 have returned home, 11 more are scheduled and six are “on pace.”
“I’m extremely disappointed in that number,” Perry said. “That’s over 80% … that aren’t home. I don’t have to tell you that’s terrible.”
Sen. Danny Earl Britt, Jr., R-Robeson and others on the commission questioned why NCORR hasn’t moved to punish building contractors who haven’t met deadlines in their agreements. Hogshead said NCORR is considering the option, but has resisted because of the legal headache it could create.
“You failed us as a director and you should resign your position,” Britt said.
Lesley Albritton, who works to help applicants at the nonprofit Legal Aid of North Carolina, told lawmakers communication with NCORR has improved since September, but 178 clients still applying for the program continue to struggle with changing caseworkers and long delays.
“We have no idea why the delays have been so lengthy,” she said. “The longer we wait for a decision, the fewer resources are out there for our clients.”
NC DPS Secretary Eddie Buffaloe, Jr., who oversees NCORR, testified that he’s meeting every other week with Hogshead to work through issues delaying relief and “while progress has been made, we still have a lot of work to do.”
“We know these families have been on (temporary rental assistance) for far too long,” he said.
Lawmakers on the committee repeatedly noted the state is currently paying between $500,000 and $600,000 per month on hotels and storage for families waiting on relief from NCORR.
