Politics

What we need to recover from Helene

Nathan Ramsey

By Nathan Ramsey, Published: January 31, 2025

It isn’t correct to say the federal and state governments haven’t been helping WNC in the aftermath of Helene.

FEMA has already provided almost $700 million in direct and public assistance, and it is still providing housing in hotels for almost 3,000 households; FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers have already removed almost 4 million cubic yards of debris; Army Corps has invested over $40 million in a water filtration system so Asheville and the region has drinkable water; NCDOT has reopened most of the roadways and bridges mostly paid for with federal money; Congress has appropriated funding so FEMA, SBA, U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and other federal agencies have disaster funding to help us. The state of North Carolina has appropriated around $1 billion to assist WNC, much of that money will be used for the required state match for federal funding.

So what do we still need?

There is not any public funding to help average working people rebuild their homes. Many homes were destroyed and private insurance isn’t paying. Federal funding will generally help low-income households below 50 percent of the region’s Average Median Income, which is generally below $50,000 depending on family size. If you earn more than that, then we don’t have a good solution now outside of philanthropy and volunteer assistance.

Grants, not loans, for small business

Many local businesses are struggling to remain open. They have suffered significant financial losses. There are some small grant programs but most of these businesses must rely on low-interest loans. Most of these businesses already had debt and they cannot take on more debt even at favorable terms. These businesses need a grant program tied to job retention similar to the Payroll Protection Program where if they meet certain benchmarks then the funding will be a grant not required to be repaid.

We need more expansive support to rebuild private roads and bridges. There was initially language in the federal disaster supplemental legislation passed in December but that language was removed when the 1,500-page bill was reduced to under 200 pages. FEMA Individual Assistance can help now with private roads and bridges but it is challenging when there are multiple homes using the same private road and bridge.

We need more direct support for local governments. At the same time they are required to do more to respond to Helene, their revenue sources from sales taxes and property taxes are cratering. They need help with revenue replacement to help them get through the next few years. Otherwise, they won’t have the capacity to help our communities rebuild.

Cover the gap

We need significantly more state assistance. State funds can be more flexible and nimble than federal funds. While the state cannot print money, North Carolina still has historic reserves that they can dedicate to the rebuilding of WNC. We know state funds cannot do this alone but they can leverage other funding sources and fill in critical gaps.

We need another federal disaster funding package dedicated to WNC. The legislation passed in December was a good start but we will need much more — tens of billions more. We realize Congress now has to respond to the Southern California wildfires and many in Congress want to cut federal spending. WNC not recover completely without much more federal support. We appreciate the attention from federal leaders and we need them to push forward with another funding bill. We don’t need to convince the North Carolina’s congressional delegation as they have our backs. But our members of Congress cannot do this without bicameral and bipartisan support from other states.

Hurricane Helene resulted in the loss of more than 100 lives and left behind $60 billion in damages. Right now we are facing more than $25 billion in uncompensated losses unless more federal and state support is directed to Western North Carolina.

WE NEED HELP AND WE NEED IT NOW!

* * * * *

Nathan Ramsey served as a Republican member of the N.C. General Assembly from 2013 to 2014 and as chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners from 2000 to 2008. A native of Fairview, he graduated from AC Reynolds High School, UNC Asheville and the University of Tennessee College of Law. He is executive director of the Land of Sky Regional Council. He and his wife, Robin, live on the family dairy farm. After spotting this post on Facebook, the Lightning got Nathan’s permission to run it in this week’s issue.