CHARLESTON, W.Va. –
West Virginia National Guard's Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. James Hoyer, issues the following update on RISE West Virginia's case management status:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) granted authority to the West Virginia RISE program today to begin the Slum and Blight and Bridge Home programs. The purpose of these programs are to demolish or remove blighted residential and commercial structures that pose an imminent threat to the health and safety of the community under the Slum and Blight Removal program, and to build new bridges for those eligible families whose only means of access to their homes was through a private bridge through the Bridge Home program.
The RISE West Virginia program will also be partnering with the West Virginia Housing Development Fund, through a sub-recipient agreement, for the multi-family rental housing program, which will provide rental housing opportunities for those affected by the 2016 flood.
Work continues on the two stick-built home reconstruction projects underway through the RISE West Virginia program as crews with Appalachia Service Project (ASP) are battling excessive rain and saturated grounds. For both projects in Nicholas and Kanawha counties, crews are completing all interior work prior to installation of the utilities and septic system, once the weather allows.
There were an additional six initial sight visits conducted this week with contractors, bringing the total to 12 in the last two weeks. These initial site visits are the first step in the construction process for families in the RISE West Virginia program. Moving forward, crews will work to determine any outstanding needs such as asbestos, septic or well issues, before demolition of the existing home on the property or to begin reconstruction efforts.
The number of completed cases remains at 44 this week, while the number of outstanding homeowner cases remains at 405. A breakdown of the nature of those cases is as follows: 170 cases require total reconstruction, 153 cases require some form of rehabilitation, and 82 cases require new mobile home unit replacement.
WV VOAD's case management team continues to reach out to all rental property owners who have applied for assistance through the RISE WV program to begin the documentation process for these projects. We anticipate being able to contact all rental applicants with active cases within the next several weeks.
WV VOAD's team also continues to connect with all homeowners in the RISE WV program, as case managers placed 250 calls to clients this week, with an additional 40 calls per day, on average, coming into the office.
We remain active in the process of identifying families who are living in the worst conditions. We encourage our partners in the media and general public to let us know if they identify people who are in severe need of assistance so we may follow up and help prioritize cases.
Any families who feel they still have any unmet needs or who are looking for an update on their case are urged to contact the new VOAD office over the phone at 304-553-0927 or through email at DisasterRecovery@wv.gov. A hotline is also available for anyone needing to report fraud with regard to the RISE West Virginia program at 1-866-WVWATCH (1-866-989-2824).