WRAL Documentary: Aftermath: North Carolina hurricane victims left behind

Oceans of water were pushed over the dudes waves behind

me churning up terribly major flooding across our area

Three deaths 72 water rescues

Just about everything is gone

Big pieces of sheet metal just flying by us right

now

This is a powerful storm that can kill pushing water

10 ft high in some places

It's been a creeping death

You can see that the car is still stranded

This is an area devastated by Floyd and Matthew remember

Matthew two years ago and here we go back to

you

Six years after Matthew and four years after Florence thousands

of people are still waiting to go home

It's been six years six years

No North Carolinians should be living in a home infested

with mold or with a tarp for a roof

The story is that rebuild north Carolina has bungled this

program left thousands of people homeless who are hurricane survivors

who've already sustained incredible trauma and no one is helping

them

We stayed in this condition at least five years

There have been time I wanted to go away

I thought about suicide

I've been hurt so bad

And then to see my wife going through like she

is is painful

I thought This is thousands of people thousands of people

that no one knows about because you think well Hurricane

Matthew that's in 2016 hurricane Florence that's in 2018 years

have passed

They aren't completely forgotten

Nobody even knew that they were living in motels

This had all flown under the radar

This is how I have to live and nobody can

seem to understand what how Oh gosh This is so

devastating

It's just I just cannot believe that I've been stuck

here three years

Why Why has it taken this long Epic failure of

bureaucrats

That's how it happens

It's incompetence

And ultimately I think there's no one being held accountable

My name is Laura Hawk said

And I'm the director of in core

This recovery is not going as you want it to

go and that is on me

Why haven't you resigned That's a great question

Should Laura Hogshead have that job No absolutely not

Of course not

She has no business sitting in that position

How does she still have that job We'll have to

ask Governor Cooper that question

Governor cooper Are these people a priority You have not

been forgotten

You will never be forgotten

But you have the same people in charge

You haven't made any changes at the top

Look I I understand how they don't have trust in

the rebuild program anymore

We have people that left their house after hurricane Florence

Hurricane Matthew and never came back home

They died in a hotel or died of a family

It's unacceptable

I asked him I said what are y'all doing Waiting

on us to die So you can leave everything undone

They never answered

Never responded

Willie and Geraldine Williams moved out of their hurricane damaged

home in Aden in 2019

It's so depressing

It's very depressing

Yeah

I mean even when I'm in the hotel room just

thinking about it

It's depressing and it affects him

Was that it does because he actually cries about it

affects me a lot rebuild and see a state program

in Nearly 800 million federal dollars

Taxpayer dollars meant to help low-income hurricane victims was supposed

to repair it

Crews removed the bricks and front porch in 2021 and

left the home like this

I have no homestead no more

They took it away

We could have lived here just like it was before

they came in here and destroyed it

We could have lived here probably the rest of our

life as it were Willy a retired veteran and Geraldine

who ran a nursing home and then a daycare

Have lived in a hotel ever since Nearly three years

in one room waiting on answers from rebuild

And I tell my husband thank God we know how

to survive

But we didn't anticipate this last time you saw me

I was emotional

I went from emotional to pure made

I mean mad how much they just don't know

Willie had a massive heart attack last year and is

starting chemo

Geraldine is on dialysis

Yes 10 hours every day

I do dialysis in a hotel in a hotel and

they bring me about 35 boxes of supplies every month

that has to sit in my in my one hotel

room

They have no way to make

I'm a person who loves to cook

I have no stove in the hotel I have no

refrigerator in the hotel

I have acquired everything I wanted in my life to

be able to live a comfortable life and I have

access to none of it

Absolutely none of it

It's just ridiculous

All of their items have been stored in these pods

all of the rat droppings and everything rebuilt sent the

pods

You put all your stuff in there They said three

months it's been three years and I mean I just

saw what was in the pods

Is it all damaged rat infested Rebuild & C has

spent $13 million 2019 it's called temporary relocation assistance for

some the months have turned into years

And sometimes the bill isn't even paid every two or

three weeks we go to our room we're locked out

because they have not repaid for the next day

They only update our stay for like three weeks at

the time

Are they coming They said they would

Some homeowners in the program have reached out to lawmakers

begging for help

We're actually going through list by list to make sure

that they've got the services that they were promised

First of all I've had one homo That's been in

a hotel since 2017 who's been diagnosed with cancer

I've got a homeowner robbed multiple times while living in

that hotel and I've got people that aren't in houses

back in their homes over 700 days

When I've talked to them they said I just want

to sleep in my bed

I just want to cook in my kitchen

I don't want to be in a hotel anymore

People are spending 20 months close to three years

Some folks in these motels wow

Lisa Sword is a veteran investigative reporter with NC Policy

Watch

She first reported on the program's failures and all the

people left behind in spring of 2022

I have been a reporter for 28 years in three

states

This is the worst case of bureaucratic madness I have

ever seen

Just 20% of the nearly 4200 homes in the program

are done

That means more than 3300 are left

Just unbelievable

The thing that will stick with me about this story

forever is the sound of people speaking and relating to

you we were homeless

My house was falling apart

I couldn't get an answer

My emotional support animal died in the motel

Everything that I've ever loved has been taken from me

These are the things I have heard and I have

to say it takes its toll

Y'all don't know

I just God I don't know Franklin Jones and his

wife Roberta lived in their mobile home in Dudley for

28 years

It was damaged by Matthew than Florence

It started with Matthew then it got bigger

They signed up with rebuild in 2019

They were supposed to get a home in January of

2020

This ain't nothing but a mobile home

You can come in

It's on wheels and snatch it out

That never happened while they waited

They lived in their damaged home trying to make repairs

but that's not allowed under the program and the conditions

inside the home were unsafe

This place paid for all I was asking was somebody

help me fix it up when the money was released

But they came and said if the house wasn't reparation

the state moved the family into a motel in March

of 2021

But then we moved out

We always caught Covid living in a hotel with just

one bedroom and me my wife and my daughter and

her daughter River to has been on oxygen since she

caught COVID and they've been in that motel more than

20 months

It's very frustrating not having anywhere to go and living

here in this hotel in this one room

Now that's depressing everything they owned stored in pods behind

the place they do anything to return to

I mean to be 68 years old

I never I never asked for help

I retired from a job

I worked nearly 50 years and here I am

No I need when I need him

I want somebody to respond and not wait four or

5 years

Oh my God I felt like I was gonna rena

Powell has been living in a motel for almost a

year

She's been waiting on answers and a new home from

rebuild after hers was damaged in both storms every day

every day except sunday with nothing to do

She visits her old home in mar Mac to check

on the place and get the mail

I am bored to death in that motel

I'm ready to be here

I have thought about just coming and move back in

like it is and they take my stuff and put

right back in here

That's the way I feel Viola rows Figueroa has been

waiting on rebuild to rebuild their home in Goldsboro since

2019 for her her husband and 77 year old mother

hell it's been a nightmare

She's been living in a trailer right next to where

her new home should be since

Matthew hit my husband passed away in the fema trailer

that I was forced to buy

She worries about her mom

I do not want to be a person that says

I wish my mom could have lived to see her

house

People have died before they've gotten back in their homes

At least 10 at least 10 people have died because

of the delays

My sister had applied for the program

Her and her husband have both died since and neither

one that never got through

So the kids just left it alone

Both of them have died coming up

My daddy's past

I now have long cancer myself

I just want to go home

I promised my daddy that I would get back home

I've asked him what are you waiting for me to

die I think that this team that we have built

is the right team to carry the project forward

This team has failed based on everyone's standards

Like this team has failed thus far

So why keep the same team I mean I can't

help from crying sometimes

The families still waiting for answers after hurricanes

Matthew and Florence feel as abandoned as the homes they

had to leave

That frustration has turned into anger at the people in

charge

It is always hard to hear what a family is

going through

There is a plan in place

I say this because I'm a vet it starts up

top and come down

Governor Roy cooper created the north Carolina office of recovery

and resiliency or encore in 2018

It was after the state had problems spending federal money

from the storm's core runs the rebuild N

C

Program

Are you proud of this program Do you think it's

been a success thus far I think overall the recovery

in the state has been successful

I think for these Several 1000 homeowners those who are

in it and those who have gotten their homes would

feel good about it although it took too long

But I'd say overall the combination of the state federal

program has not been successful because it has been too

slow and it needs to speed up rebuild has received

nearly 800 million federal dollars to help get low-income people

without insurance back home

There are nearly 4200 applicants rebuilds

Most recent numbers show 3300 homes still aren't done

But I would say to this governor cooper and the

rest of the team up there that has a part

in this

I wish I would do a follow up much closer

and check the situation people are living in

It's just not fair

He's a good man

He's a good governor

But personally he has done nothing for my family

I'm a proud democrat

But at this point it's not about politics it's about

the basic needs of humans

Today

We still have people display stuck and waiting for assistance

House Majority leader Republican john Bell represents Green johnston and

Wayne counties

The governor's office has a tremendous amount of blame in

this process as his administration that has failed to people

But we've got to put politics aside and fix this

We may end up doing that

Republican State Senator Danny Britt represents Robison County

This isn't an election year issue that we're you know

saying N

C rebuild isn't doing anything right

The cooper administration isn't doing anything right

These are issues that we raised to the media that

we raised with citizens back in 2017 and in 2018

that the government is simply moving too slowly for us

to get started brit and belle are part of a

12 member legislative committee investigating rebuild the committee held a

six hour hearing in september

We should have had action earlier

We heard from victims

It's not about us being angry it's about us then

Not heard not heard

I just want to go home

I promised my daddy that I would get back home

I've asked him what are you waiting for me to

die Experts like J

R

Sanderson testified you ain't got nowhere to go but up

He ran one of the most successful disaster recovery programs

in the country in south Carolina before leaving to work

for a nonprofit

He rated north Carolina's action plan for Matthew in 2016

and f a lot of these problems could have been

solved after hurricane Matthew in 2016

And not allowed to grow and grow and grow and

grow and get bigger and bigger and bigger

To the point we have a public outcry on my

name is Laura and I'm the director of

We also heard from Laura Hogshead and her chief program

delivery officer

Ivan Duncan Hogshead has been in charge of Encore since

late 2018

She hired Duncan as her number two in 2019 from

new york after Superstorm Sandy

Well we started out very well and due to the

pandemic

Yes it has slowed

I got sick and tired of hearing Covid Covid

Covid and my question was okay

I understand

But what happened to two and three years before Covid

And I can't give you an answer while Hogshead blamed

complicated hud rolls Covid and other pandemic problems for some

of the delays

She also said this this recovery is not going as

you want it to go

It is not going as I wanted to go

It is certainly not going as the family sitting behind

me and out in eastern north Carolina wanted to go

and that is on me and I am not in

any way shirking that responsibility

These are my decisions

These are my staffing decisions

These are my policy decisions and that is on me

I asked her about that statement during a sit down

interview in the rebuild offices

And so if this is on you and you said

that and you believe that then why haven't you resigned

That's a great question

Because I believe that this is the right team to

complete the mission

It's a decision making process that we make as a

team in coordination with all of our stakeholders

I don't think that interrupting the recovery to replace the

senior leadership here is the right move for the applicants

I didn't feel like making an abrupt change at this

point was going to help applicants and that really is

the core of every decision that we make while Hogshead

was prepared for the resignation question

Chief of External Affairs Jamie Fuchs was not

She was also in the room for the interview

You'll hear her talking off camera so that I think

that's just it's just not sitting well with it's not

like Laura saying no I will not resign because no

one has asked that right well and she's free to

say that

I think all the people we talked to homeowners experts

people who have done your job I point blank asked

them if this was your program

If these were your numbers would you resign And they

said yes without a doubt would you stay in the

job Would you resign Oh yeah you would resign

Well I mean I would because that's just the way

I look at the world I'm not one to embrace

failure

I do think that's a failure

So you know with all due respect it may not

sit well with you but that is what that's what

people that we interview

That's what they're wondering

Hogshead said several times in the interview she is the

right person with the right team behind her

I think that this team that we have built is

the right team to carry the project forward and I

think every person is the right person to make the

changes that need to happen

But days after that interview Ivan Duncan the man she

hired who testified by her side resigned

Encore said the deputy program delivery officer will be named

acting chief and there will be no disruption of services

Hogshead and others said this is a very complicated process

I want to say that this is difficult and this

is something the state has never done before

So this is not like the fema assistance that comes

in when it's still raining and writes you a check

that is not full recovery and then walks away

This is the long term recovery for the most vulnerable

folks

She said rebuild has made changes

They are streamlining the eight step process to get into

home bringing on more contractors

And the biggest change bringing case management in house

One of the biggest complaints about rebuild is that homeowners

could not get answers

I have had over 69 74 case managers

Yeah I would say every homeowner I've spoken with has

said I can't get ahold of my case manager I

can't get ahold of my construction liaison I get different

phone numbers I call people back they don't call me

they get the runaround rebuild blames a third party contractor

in charge of the case management

Horn for that

Horn blames rebuild for an unorganized program and leaders who

did not listen to their suggestions

We weren't told what was going on that was

So I can't imagine how frustrated

I did not know that governor cooper received weekly updates

about rebuild and said it's his top priority but said

he was unaware

And so you're saying you didn't know about the case

management but isn't it your job to know

Well look I think it's important that people know that

what's happening with their homes and the rebuild

And that's why when we started finding this out we

said you got to change it

And I think the rebuild understood they needed to change

the way they were doing things because I don't even

think rebuild new because they were depending on a third

party vendor to do that job

So they should have

So I think we were too reliant on vendors before

We are now running this as a state program and

we are working every day to make sure this as

streamlined as possible that the communication is a As clear

as possible and that we get to completion

Because really the only thing that matters is getting the

keys in that homeowners hand who can fix that good

for some homeowners and lawmakers these changes came too late

And why didn't we make those changes And why do

we only start making changes six months ago when things

were beginning to be highlighted fighting them all

There's no reason why she's making $139,000 and not getting

the job done

She's been proven in my opinion to be too ineffective

to remain in that position

If she was my employee in the private sector and

her outputs or what her outputs are in the public

sector should have been fired a long time ago

Next disaster recovery in north Carolina is broke shattered in

my opinion rebuild must face lawmakers again

for somebody to go through this type of stuff and

I know I'm not the only one the Williams and

other families are left in limbo hoping answers might finally

come after another legislative hearing in december

So there's another hearing in december december 14th

What do you hope happens What are you going to

call for We implemented a number of I'm going to

call for the removal of hogshead and a complete revamp

of the agency

I think at this point what should happen is that

rebuild is so broken that it's going to need a

complete renovation

The more you get out you get the what I

call the mud smell the mold smell in your nose

the more you realize you gotta work faster

The only way to do this is to build trust

If the citizen doesn't trust me then I'm failing I'm

failing as a bureaucrat

I'm failing as a public administrator Sanderson

They need about 15 of them

He spoke nothing

But the truth they need to get rid of the

ones that are up there now

They do

But we've got to change it from a legislative standpoint

So this doesn't happen again

I hope that we're able to show much better numbers

and that we're able to show that our output is

increasing and that that output is sustainable

What if you're not I have confidence that we will

be able to

So what happens what happens if they don't make progress

Well this is what I expect I expect it to

happen

And I think knowing that we're going back on the

14th of december is another way of making me feel

like they're gonna get off their behind and try and

do something

Will you stop fighting Of course not

Even after I get in my home I'm not going

to stop fighting because there's too many other people out

there going through this leave you speechless because you feel

like the system has failed

I hope someday there will be a change

I'm just holding on by faith trusting God that he

will