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:
One new mobile home in Webster County passed a final inspection by the WVNG’s Quality Assistance/Quality Control team this week and is now considered “construction complete.” This brings the total number of completed cases to 44.
The number of outstanding homeowner cases has decreased to 405. A breakdown of the nature of those cases is as follows: 171 cases require total reconstruction, 153 cases require some form of rehabilitation, and 82 cases require new mobile home unit replacement.
Meanwhile, crews with Appalachia Service Project (ASP) continued their work on a stick-built home reconstruction project in Kanawha County this week, as construction teams put up all exterior walls, completed roofing, and began framing the interior of the new home being built in Charleston.
Another stick-built reconstruction project through ASP in Nicholas County continues to reach completion, as crews wait for improved weather conditions to put the finishing touches on the new home being built in Craigsville.
The ongoing partial government shutdown continues to significantly limit the RISE WV program’s ability to draw down federal dollars from HUD for new reconstruction and new mobile home unit projects, and limit our ability to move the program forward.
With the one mobile home being completed this week, there are now 45 reconstruction and mobile home unit projects remaining that will be able to go on, unaffected by the shutdown. In each of these cases, the associated contractors have already received initial payment and construction work will be able to continue to completion.
Construction work will also be able to continue, without impact from the government shutdown, on all of the 153 cases that require rehabilitation work.
The WVNG and RISE WV management teams will continue to work through the case management and contracting processes in order to move forward aggressively when the shutdown ends and full federal funds become available once again.
WV VOAD's case management team completed seven homeowner agreement signings this week, meaning those clients have finished the final step of the case management process and are ready to be transitioned into construction as soon as possible.
An additional 10 homeowner agreement signings are currently scheduled to take place next week. WV VOAD managers say their goal is to complete an average of 10 of these signings every week going forward.
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).