(The Center Square) – Failed leadership of a hurricane recovery program initiated by Roy Cooper was found bad enough that a North Carolina lawmaker told her she had proven untrustworthy with taxpayers’ money.
Laura Hogshead was asked to resign, refused initially and then did, and then the former two-term Democratic governor’s program wasn’t even continued by his friend, colleague and successor Josh Stein after his Jan. 1 inauguration. Wednesday in Goldsboro, first-term Republican state Auditor Dave Boliek’s report on the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency’s Homeowner Recovery Program showed the depth of ineptitude existing in administration of more than $1 billion in federal and state funding.
State appropriations were $297 million, and $709 million was from federal Community Development Block Grants. The audit said, “nearly $785 million in public funds was disbursed to vendors without a single, reconciled source of financial truth or robust oversight.”
In the audit, Boliek’s staff found:
• The Office of Recovery and Resiliency committed more funds than were available, resulting in a $297 million budget shortfall and requiring emergency State appropriations.
• Poor data quality and delays in processing applications led to prolonged hardship for disaster victims and increased program costs.
• Insufficient budget controls and lack of ongoing financial monitoring contributed to fiscal uncertainty and the need for emergency funding.
• Inadequate oversight of vendors and weak contract management resulted in higher costs and operational inefficiencies.
“The unfortunate truth of this report is the response from North Carolina to Hurricanes Matthew and Florence was a disaster,” Boliek said. “When government decides to focus on administrative procedures ahead of boots on the ground, hurricane victims get hurt.
“North Carolina must implement a long-term, comprehensive plan that can be used for decades to come. As state leaders, we owe it to the people of North Carolina to come to the table, institute accountability, and map out a transparent and permanent strategy to respond to hurricanes.”
On Nov. 18 of last year, Hogshead in her role as chief operating officer and Pryor Gibson of Cooper’s office appeared before the joint legislative Hurricane Response and Recovery Subcommittee. After Hurricanes Matthew (2016) and Florence (2018), Cooper had sought to help provide assistance to families impacted by creating the office he entrusted Hogshead to shepherd.
While some did benefit, six and eight years respectively after the major hurricanes only 2,800 new homes had been completed for 4,200 families approved. There was $37 million owed for projects completed, and a possible need for as much as $265 million to complete projects.
Meeting 53 days after Hurricane Helene had torn into the mountains of the state killing 107 and doing an estimated $60 billion to $80 billion damage, lawmakers had been surprised to find tucked within Cooper’s 99-page, $3.9 billion proposal for Helene relief a request for $175 million for the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
“You have proven that you don’t have the capability of being trusted with the taxpayers’ money,” Rep. Brenden Jones, R-Columbus, who chaired the meeting, said to Hogshead. “No one has any more sympathy or empathy for the people of this state that are affected by the storms than I do. I have to live with them every day … you don’t. You say you care, but you certainly haven’t shown it.”
Boliek’s report identified 3,522 completed projects through April of this year, with 11,654 total applications having been made. The Office of Recovery and Resiliency used three systems to manage the program, requiring applicants to go through eight steps.
Each step took an average of 100 days. Grant determination averaged 936 days, or more than 2½ years.
Boliek’s report said some families spent more than 1,400 days – almost four years – in temporary housing.
Gibson, in response to the audit, said progress was being made to return the more than 4,200 families approved to their homes and close the program in 2026. He said the office is implementing process improvements with regard to strengthening vendor management, local governments, and construction vendors.
In an email to The Center Square, Cooper’s campaign said in part, “After Hurricanes Florence and Matthew, the Cooper administration oversaw the repair and rebuilding of more than 13,000 homes that were built to withstand future storms in addition to hundreds of roads, bridges and public buildings, even when the first Trump administration provided only about half of the funding that North Carolina needed.”
Matthew and Florence were among four hurricanes in 47 months striking the southeastern part of the state. Dorian (2019) and Isaias (2020) were of lesser damaging strength hitting the same area.
Matthew came ashore Oct. 9, 2016, near McClellanville, S.C., as a Category 1 hurricane after previously being a Category 5. As much as 6 to 18 inches of rain came with it in eastern North Carolina. Florence made landfall Sept. 14, 2018, near Wrightsville Beach as a Category 1 hurricane after having reached Category 4 in the Atlantic Ocean.
Florence’s significant damage was tied to flooding of more inland rivers as they snaked to the Atlantic Ocean.
