CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Gen. James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard says long-term flood relief efforts in West Virginia are making steady improvements.
Hoyer, at a news conference today with Gov. Jim Justice, described moving at “deliberate speed,” meaning as quickly as possible but also with care to avoid misusing money or running afoul of federal regulations.
“We’re going to be fast, but we’re going to be deliberate,” Hoyer said.
Without that care, he said, “What happens to us and happens to the governor is two years down the road, HUD’s coming and saying ‘Governor, got to pay this money back.”
Gov. Jim Justice named Hoyer as the point man on long-term flood relief last week after concerns arose over the pace at which West Virginia was administering a federal grant worth about $150 million.
Hoyer has described greater coordinated efforts with West Virginia Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster, as well as attention to cutting through red tape to move flooded West Virginians toward recovery.
He said more than 400 homes have been identified as needing attention.
“We believe there are 452 family homes that need to be addressed through the RISE case management system,” Hoyer said today.
He said officials have been moving through about 300 cases that were in an environmental review phase. “We’ve released 40 of those this week and and 12 last week,” Hoyer said.
That means those cases go into a final step toward the construction process. “That doesn’t mean a house is on the way today necessarily. Each one of those cases is different, but they are now in process and there’s communication with those individuals.”
Controversy has stirred over the past month over West Virginia RISE and the Justice administration’s handling of Community Development Block Grants for disaster relief administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Questions have arisen over a contract for an outside consultant to manage the millions of dollars in grant money, the pace of West Virginia’s long-term flood relief and the effectiveness of communication among agencies and with the public.