RALEIGH — Money meant to help survivors of Hurricanes Matthew and Florence were bogged down in a “logistical nightmare” leading to wasted funding and years of project delays, according to a recent report from the state auditor, Dave Boliek.
He started an investigation into the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency earlier this year at the General Assembly’s request and presented his findings Thursday. One of the biggest sources of waste and inefficiency he pointed to was the software NCORR chose for the program. It cost more than $25 million but it was poorly rolled out and NCORR failed to use the program to efficiently track its own projects.
[ Organizations can apply for grants to help aid in Hurricane Helene recovery ]
Ultimately, this meant some families were left waiting close to four years in temporary housing while NCORR worked out their cases.
“I don’t mean to be flippant about this, but for $25.4 million that program ought to do somersaults, and it ought to be the star of a Cirque du Soleil program,” Boliek said.
He also said the process of applying for housing assistance was painfully slow for survivors. The application process took eight steps, each step took an average of 100 days to complete and in the end, it took an average of 936 days to determine whether or not the applicant would get their grant.
As of this April, NCORR’s Homeowner Recovery Program received more than 11,000 applications, Just over 3500 projects have been completed.
Pryor Gibson, who took over NCORR late last year was also at the hearing. He said the office is already implementing some of the auditors recommendations as it works to complete its work by fall of next year. The office was established as a temporary relief service and is slated to close in 2026.
Boliek said the temporary and reactionary nature of NCORR likely played a big role in its failures. Moving forward, Boliek said the state needs to focus on establishing a baseline set of protocols and oversight to address major disasters so they’re better managed in the future.
“You want the public to have trust in the money that you are appropriating, that that money is going to go to get actual results,” he said.
NCORR is not handling Hurricane Helene relief. Instead Gov. Josh Stein established the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina or GROW NC to manage the state’s efforts.
Boliek said it’s too soon to tell whether the new program will serve as a better model moving forward, but if it proves to be more efficient, he believes working within an existing system and adapting it for future storms will likely serve the state better than starting from scratch after each disaster.
“NC grow and Commerce has already got 13 projects out the door within a year,” he said. “So it can be done. It’s a question of will and effort, and where are we going to focus on the results at the end of the day?”
VIDEO: ‘Very blessed’: FEMA homes continue to provide temporary relief for Helene survivors
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