WCTI
North Carolina's junior U.S. Senator has announced a bill to address what he says is the "unacceptably slow distribution of federal assistance" to those impacted by natural disasters, prompted by those still struggling following Hurricane Matthew.
Senator Thom Tillis says the Ensuring Disaster Recovery For Local Communities Act is intended to prompt the federal government to take concrete steps to empower local communities and streamline the process for future allocations after natural disasters.
“Too many North Carolinians are hurting because of the state administration’s unacceptably slow pace of allocating federal Hurricane Matthew recovery resources to local communities. Long-term efforts to help North Carolinians rebuild and get their lives back on track cannot continue to be delayed as the result of inaction,” said Senator Tillis. “That’s why I’m introducing legislation that will bypass the existing state roadblock in order to get assistance to families, small businesses, and local communities sooner.”
The legislation is based on findings from a report from earlier this year, which outlined administrative missteps and lack of expertise which has led to major delays in spending for Hurricane Matthew recovery. The report noted that the state scrapped its original plan to rely heavily on counties and instead opted for a more state-centric plan.
In explaining the main causes for the slow pace of administering the funding, the report notes that “several counties contend they could have implemented CDBG-DR themselves, particularly as they felt they had more knowledge of CDBG than DPS.”
To help make sure North Carolina families and their communities get the federal assistance they were promised in a timely manner, Tillis says The Ensuring Disaster Recovery For Local Communities Act sets tangible spending goals and allows cities and counties to ask HUD to send the money directly to them when the state fails to distribute those funds after an 18-month period.
Additionally, Tillis’ legislation directs the Government Accountability Office to review of property acquisition or “buyout” programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and make recommendations on how to streamline the process and get the money to storm survivors more quickly.
Despite repeated promises made by the state administration over the last two years to deliver disaster funds to communities devastated by Hurricane Matthew, the vast majority of the assistance has yet to reach them. As of this month, Tillis says the state administration has only allocated 7% of its funds for those recovery efforts and, as a result, North Carolina has been consistently designated as a “slow spender” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
To ensure federal assistance for Hurricane Matthew and all future disaster assistance flows to North Carolina victims and communities faster, Senator Tillis says the legislation will implement the following reforms:
Senator Thom Tillis says the Ensuring Disaster Recovery For Local Communities Act is intended to prompt the federal government to take concrete steps to empower local communities and streamline the process for future allocations after natural disasters.
“Too many North Carolinians are hurting because of the state administration’s unacceptably slow pace of allocating federal Hurricane Matthew recovery resources to local communities. Long-term efforts to help North Carolinians rebuild and get their lives back on track cannot continue to be delayed as the result of inaction,” said Senator Tillis. “That’s why I’m introducing legislation that will bypass the existing state roadblock in order to get assistance to families, small businesses, and local communities sooner.”
The legislation is based on findings from a report from earlier this year, which outlined administrative missteps and lack of expertise which has led to major delays in spending for Hurricane Matthew recovery. The report noted that the state scrapped its original plan to rely heavily on counties and instead opted for a more state-centric plan.
In explaining the main causes for the slow pace of administering the funding, the report notes that “several counties contend they could have implemented CDBG-DR themselves, particularly as they felt they had more knowledge of CDBG than DPS.”
To help make sure North Carolina families and their communities get the federal assistance they were promised in a timely manner, Tillis says The Ensuring Disaster Recovery For Local Communities Act sets tangible spending goals and allows cities and counties to ask HUD to send the money directly to them when the state fails to distribute those funds after an 18-month period.
Additionally, Tillis’ legislation directs the Government Accountability Office to review of property acquisition or “buyout” programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and make recommendations on how to streamline the process and get the money to storm survivors more quickly.
Despite repeated promises made by the state administration over the last two years to deliver disaster funds to communities devastated by Hurricane Matthew, the vast majority of the assistance has yet to reach them. As of this month, Tillis says the state administration has only allocated 7% of its funds for those recovery efforts and, as a result, North Carolina has been consistently designated as a “slow spender” by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
To ensure federal assistance for Hurricane Matthew and all future disaster assistance flows to North Carolina victims and communities faster, Senator Tillis says the legislation will implement the following reforms:
- Directs the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to set spending goal thresholds for state grantees to hit on six months intervals, creating tangible spending metrics for the public and impacted storm survivors to hold grantees accountable.
- Ensures local communities have access to federal disaster assistance by allowing them to request to take over funds as a subgrantee when a state grantee fails to spend funds in a timely manner after an 18-month span as prescribed by HUD.
- Local communities can adopt the state grantee’s HUD-approved Action Plan to further expedite relief. For communities that do not yet have a capacity to administer CDBG funds, HUD would provide each community with technical assistance, including a HUD detailee, to provide training and ensure those communities have the capacity to administer the funds.
Because Senator Tillis’ legislation is retroactive, it would immediately grant HUD the authority to distribute the CDBG-DR funding to local communities in North Carolina that have yet to receive their assistance.
Tillis will formally introduce The Ensuring Disaster Assistance For Local Communities Act as soon as the Senate is back in session early next month.
Read the article here.
