North Carolina’s action plan to spend $542 in Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds for Hurricane Florence has been approved.
The state Office of Recovery and Resiliency announced Thursday that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, approved the plan that was submitted and approved first out of 27 grantees for this federal disaster recovery allocation.
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“Many North Carolina families are still struggling from the devastation caused by Hurricane Florence, and even in the midst of a pandemic we’re the first state in the country to receive approval on a plan to start drawing down these funds. I’m proud of our team working so hard through these challenging times to get people the help they need as quickly as possible,” said Gov. Roy Cooper in a statement.
Approval of the action plan is a required step in a technical process that all grantees must follow. The state must now receive a federal grant agreement from HUD before it can spend the funds to help storm survivors.
Hurricane Florence made landfall Sept. 14, 2018, and caused an estimated $22 billion in damages statewide. Cooper established the recovery and resiliency office following Hurricane Florence to streamline disaster recovery programs statewide and help communities rebuild smarter and stronger. The office administers programs that support homeowner recovery, affordable housing, mitigation, buyout, local government grants and loans, and resiliency.
Through its ReBuild NC program, office has committed $189.7 million in Hurricane Matthew recovery funds to help storm survivors and remains on pace to administer all funds within federal guidelines. To date, North Carolina has spent more than $3.5 billion in state and federal funding for hurricanes Matthew and Florence recovery.
