NC communities still recovering from hurricanes feel forgotten as state turns attention to future storm preparations
The state is looking at ways to mitigate effects from hurricanes and natural disasters. They've received a more $202 million Community Development Block Grant that must be used toward mitigation efforts through the Housing and Urban Development.
Some people who are still trying to recover from Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, though, feel left behind.
'Help us please' is what one participant wrote on a note and held up during the citizen advisory committee meeting Tuesday morning. The committee is an arm of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resilience comprised of members from areas most affected by natural disasters. They met online Tuesday discussing the action plan.
"These adjustments would not only seek to bridge historic gaps for communities that were impacted by hurricanes Matthew and Florence but also help incorporate community development opportunities and build up long term resilience of those communities and address future climate change impacts down the line," said Edgar Gomez, a committee member.
The focus on the future upset some of the people sitting in on the meeting.
A state reanalysis shows 89% of the unmet recovery needs are related to owner-occupied housing, rental housing and the economy.
"There are some people who need urgent help for over half a decade," wrote Virginia Radcliffe through a public comment in chat. "The homeless, struggling homeowners are the past to Ms. Hogshead and the Rebuild NC program and this is unacceptable."
Her frustrations and others on the call come from the lack of action from Rebuild NC – the state program meant to help low-income homeowners recover from the effects of those two devastating storms, which WRAL dove into in our December documentary called Aftermath.
While the committee is accepting public comments until January 23rd, they didn’t open the mics to the general public today.
