Approval allows recovery programs to proceed with HUD funded block grants
RALEIGH – Environmental reviews were approved today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for Cumberland, Edgecombe and Wayne counties, which will allow homeowner awards to move forward on Hurricane Matthew repair projects funded by Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) in those counties.
“Many residents in these three counties have been waiting for this approval, so repairs and reimbursements can move forward for them,” said NC Emergency Management Director Mike Sprayberry. “Now that these environmental reviews are approved, the pace of HUD funded repairs in those counties will accelerate quickly.”
Once homeowners formally accept their CDBG-DR 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.
Congress initially appropriated $235 million in CDBG-DR funds to help residents in North Carolina recover from Hurricane Matthew. HUD has designated eighty-percent of that funding to be used in the four counties hit hardest by Matthew: Cumberland, Edgecombe, Robeson and Wayne. Robeson County’s environmental review was approved June 16 and CBDG-DR funded home repairs began there several weeks ago. Congress has identified an additional $168 million in CBDG-DR funds for North Carolina and those funds will become available to the state once guidelines for its use appear in the Federal Register.
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.
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. Centers are open in Bertie, Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Edgecombe, Lenoir, Robeson and Wayne counties.
Environmental reviews for four additional counties; Bertie, Columbus, Lenoir and Pitt are now under review by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, before being submitted to HUD for final approval.
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