Federal disaster funds released
By Steve Herring
Published in News on August 29, 2018 5:50 AM
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Carlton and Renee Hinson in the Hood Drive area of Grantham spent the first night in their new home on Monday, the same day that the federal government approved a state environmental review and thereby releasing disaster funds to help Hurricane Matthew victims, like the Hinsons.
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The home of Carlton and Renee Hinson in the Hood Drive area of Grantham was nearly completely submerged by floodwaters in the wake of Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.
Renee and Carlton Hinson of the Grantham community spent their first night in their new home Monday -- a home that replaces the one flooded by Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
That wasn't the only good news of the day for the Hinsons -- it came on the same day of federal approval of state environmental reviews that triggers the release of disaster grant funds, some possibly as early as September, which will help them and others flooded out by Matthew to rebuild.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) approval of reviews for Wayne, Cumberland and Edgecombe counties will allow homeowner grant awards to move forward on Hurricane Matthew repair projects funded by Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) in those counties.
The approval is the biggest step toward getting those funds to Wayne County residents who need them, said David Harris, whose company, RSM Harris Associates, is managing the grant program for the county.
"Praise the Lord, I hadn't heard that," Renee Hinson said. "Well, naturally I am very excited to hear that. It's been a long time coming for a lot of people, and I really hope that everyone who has been flooded can reap some benefit from it."
Hinson said her feelings about the announcement are similar to how she felt when her new home arrived.
"You almost just couldn't believe it because it has been such a dragged out thing, and you think, 'Are things going to happen? Are we ever going to get back to any normalcy?'" she said.
"But I am very excited. We are beginning to see that light at the end of the tunnel finally, really because that is how we have felt -- like we were in a dark tunnel. It is time for some good news. It's time for people to get their lives back."
CDBG-DR funds can help storm-impacted homeowners and landlords repair or rebuild properties damaged by Hurricane Matthew.
Funding from the program can also be used to reimburse homeowners who undertook and completed repairs to their home after Matthew.
Wayne County has been awarded $16.94 million over the next two years and could be eligible for up to a total of $25.4 million over the next three years.
Since the funding is through HUD, least 70 percent of the money will have to be spent on housing for low-to-moderate-income families.
"With what they are talking about, checks will start being written in September," Harris said. "At this point in the process, they (state) have done enough upfront work instead of just waiting on HUD. There will finally be money on the street in September."
How soon that will happen is dependent on individual properties, he said.
Once homeowners formally accept their grant awards in closing meetings, home repairs and reimbursements can follow.
Homeowners who have already completed repairs and are seeking reimbursements will receive their reimbursement check at closing.
The closing means that anyone who receives assistance under the program for housing has to agree to a five-year recapture period, Harris said.
That means if the property is sold within those five years that a pro-rated portion of the grant assistance has to be repaid, he said.
"The only way to secure that is with a promissory note and deed of trust," Harris said. "With that promissory note and deed of trust, there is no payment or interest or penalty, nothing of that sort.
"It is simply a single item promissory note deed of trust that is only due if the person sells the property in order to profit. That is referred to as a closing, not in the sense of acquisition or anything else. It is only in the sense of a loan -- a deferred payment loan."
The environmental review process is a two-step process set up to be sequential, Harris said.
However, the state has done as much as it could concurrently while waiting on the final approval in an effort to save time, he said.
The first step was the environmental review for the entire county, and that is the one just approved by HUD, he said.
"There has been an environmental review done by the state for any and all environmental factors that could possibly exist in Wayne County on any residential lot," Harris said.
The review includes a litany of things including historic properties, endangered species, hazardous materials, nuclear waste dump sites, wetlands and flood plains, he said.
At the end of the process, the state sent a request to release the funds for all three counties for all of the grant funds, or at least for the housing component, Harris said.
The initial $16.94 million would be budgeted over two years for housing and other work, such as infrastructure and drainage activities.
"HUD has authorized the funds to be released, but the actual expenditure of those funds still has a couple of steps to go through," Harris said. "One, the site-specific environmental review is completed, and two they have done an evaluation of the repairs that were made before and how much is eligible for reimbursements and what additional can be made."
Those inspections have been ongoing for the past month or so, he said.
Anyone affected by Hurricane Matthew is urged to visit the ReBuild NC website (rebuild.nc.gov) to learn more about program options and can call 2-1-1 to make an appointment to visit one of the eight ReBuild NC Application Centers to see if they qualify for assistance.
The Wayne County center is located in the former Farm Services Agency office, 209 W. Spruce St. It is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Centers also are open in Bertie, Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Edgecombe, Lenoir and Robeson counties.