Top lieutenants of Gov. Josh Stein's administration overseeing Hurricane Helene recovery testify in front of state lawmakers on Thursday, May 22, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)
North Carolina Republican lawmakers remain frustrated at the slow trickle of Hurricane Helene aid money to western North Carolina, they told leading disaster recovery officials Wednesday.
In a committee hearing, 10 months after the record-braking storm tore through the mountains, legislators said they continued to have concerns about efforts to remove debris from roads and waterways, as well as the speed of the state’s homebuilding program.
Matt Calabria, who leads the governor’s Helene recovery office, and Will Ray, the emergency management director, told the committee that the state continued to make steady — and in some cases unprecedented — progress on both issues.
“There’s no such thing as moving fast enough,” Calabria said.
The state’s homebuilding program, Renew NC, is now open. Housing repairs in the meantime have come through a combination of federal household aid, philanthropic efforts and various other programs. And more than 14 million cubic yards of debris have been cleared from roads and rivers.
Calabria confirmed, however, that federal money has been, and continues to be, slow to arrive. And when it does, it will likely be a fraction of that received by the state after past disasters.
“I would settle for a little reckless spending right now, just to get money in the hands of the people,” said Sen. Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson).
Lawmakers have approved four total substantive aid packages after Hurricane Helene. Around 80% of the money laid out in the first two packages, passed last October, has been spent or obligated.
Since January, an additional two aid deals have totaled more than $1 billion in state funding. Agencies are working to send out the money from the first of those packages, passed in March.
The state budget office is currently reviewing lawmakers’ most recent aid bill, which totals $575 million and was enacted in late June.
And the state is still waiting on large chunks of federal aid. That includes around $685 million in money from the EPA, Calabria said, and $1.4 billion from HUD to help fund the Renew NC program.
Officials signed a grant agreement for that $1.4 billion bundle of money this week. Several other steps still need to be completed before it is released to the state.