RALEIGH — North Carolina’s members of Congress have been actively advocating for Hurricane Helene recovery efforts in Washington.
U.S. Rep. Tim Moore (R-Kings Mountain) introduced the Disaster Relief Transparency Act aimed at bringing transparency to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in how it manages and allocates resources for its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) programs.
“Hurricane Helene taught us that the way federal disaster relief funds are distributed and overseen needs serious improvement,” Moore said in a press release. “Families in Western North Carolina were left waiting without answers, and there was no clear explanation for how decisions were made.”
Moore’s bill has bipartisan backing and was filed with the help of Democratic Louisiana Rep. Cleo Fields.
Under the bill, HUD would be required to submit an annual report to Congress on how the agency allocates its CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT funds, with the first report due within 90 days of the measure becoming law. The first report must cover the previous two years of activity, including Hurricane Helene.
On April 15, a report compiled by North Carolina Congressman Chuck Edwards (R-Flat Rock) on Hurricane Helene and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was sent to the White House and the FEMA task force.
Following Hurricane Helene and President Donald Trump’s visit to western North Carolina, Edwards was appointed to that task force — along with his House colleagues Moore and Virginia Foxx (R-Banner Elk) — in late January 2025. Trump also named Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley to lead the task force.
“My recommendations take a WNC-centered approach to address the unique circumstances surrounding our rebuilding process, because typical disaster recovery options will not suffice,” Edwards said in a release unveiling the report. “I’m confident that these recommendations will help our region gain momentum in recovery, and I look forward to continuing to work with President Trump and the FEMA task force in the next phase of the process, where we implement some of these recommendations.”
Trump has said that FEMA should be dismantled, but Republicans at the state and national level seem to want the agency to be reformed rather than eliminated.
The 62-page report describes the extensive recovery challenges faced by western North Carolina following Hurricane Helene, which struck on Sept. 27, including an estimated $59.6 billion in damages wrought by the storm.
The report highlights the inadequacy of traditional disaster recovery approaches by federal government agencies and cites the failures in such approaches in dealing with North Carolina’s mountainous terrain while calling for the cutting of “red tape” and more tailored solutions.
Key issues Edwards brings up include the destruction of more than 7,000 private roads and bridges, a severe housing shortage with 73,700 homes damaged and a crippled tourism-driven economy with a 70% decline in visitor revenue.
Recommendations include passing the Restoring Access to Mountain Homes Act to fund private infrastructure repairs, expediting CDBG-DR approvals for housing and small business grants, and increasing FHWA and FEMA cost shares to 100% for major corridors like I-40.
The report also proposes FEMA reforms, such as streamlining grant processes, modernizing IT systems and simplifying survivor applications via the Disaster Survivors Fairness Act. Additional requests focus on reducing bureaucratic delays, enhancing state authority, and ensuring program flexibility to prevent further economic and community decline, urging swift federal action to restore the region.
In the U.S. Senate, North Carolina Republican Sens. Ted Budd and Thom Tillis issued a letter to HUD Secretary Scott Turner urging him to expedite North Carolina’s recovery action plan for $1.4 billion in CDBG-DR funding. The letter was also signed by most of North Carolina’s House delegation, including all four of the state’s Democratic congressional members.
“On March 26, 2025, Governor Josh Stein submitted North Carolina’s proposed Action Plan for $1.4 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding to address housing, infrastructure, and economic needs in Western North Carolina,” the lawmakers wrote in the April 11 letter. “The plan was submitted only 181 days after Hurricane Helene made landfall, making this submission the fastest from any state in the past decade following a major hurricane.
“We appreciate HUD’s focus on this urgent matter and urge expedited consideration of North Carolina’s Action Plan. We stand ready to collaborate with you and your team at HUD to maximize the positive impact of this vital grant funding.”
The same day the letter was sent to Turner, Stein announced his request for another 180-day extension of a 100% reimbursement match was denied by FEMA.
The letter from FEMA to Stein says the immediate emergency response and debris removal received full federal funding for the first 180 days with a 100% matching reimbursement rate and that after that initial 180-day period, the federal government will cover 90% of costs for all other recovery activities throughout the entire “entire lifetime of the disaster,” while the state and local governments would be responsible for the remaining 10%.
The letter also gave Stein 30 days to appeal the decision.
