CHARLESTON, W.Va. –
This week, crews are continuing work towards completion of five homes that are in active construction. One home is awaiting utility activation to be ready for final inspection by the West Virginia National Guard Quality Assurance/Quality Control team.
There are 49 homes complete and 55 homes at varying points in the initial construction phase, including environmental permitting and inspections. An additional 25 projects are awaiting
homeowner agreement signatures which will allow contractors to be issued notices to proceed. Additionally, 10 new mobile homes have been accrued and will be placed with homeowners in the near future.
Work on the Bridge program continued in Roane County this week as physical construction on bridges began. A temporary foot bridge project is finishing up which will allow residents access to their property while the demolition and rebuild of a damaged vehicular bridge takes place. That project is expected to be fully completed in the coming weeks. There remain an additional eight bridges ready for construction and work is expected to begin on those projects by the end of the month.
There are 102 projects now awaiting demolition as a part of the Slum and Blight program once they complete the environmental review process. An additional 58 projects are in the case management process pipeline for removal that are considered an “imminent threat" from the county or municipality, meaning those properties pose a threat to the health and safety of the public. These projects will move from the “imminent threat” phase to the environmental review process before demolition can begin. The Slum and Blight program is still accepting applications in all counties affected by the 2016 flood.
The number of outstanding Housing Program cases remains at 465 this week. The current breakdown by construction type is as follows: 49 homes are complete, 244 cases require total reconstruction, 98 cases require some form of rehabilitation actions, 109 cases require new mobile home replacement, and 14 cases are awaiting initial project type and undergoing the damage assessment process.
Contractors are ramping up their local operations, hiring additional West Virginia trades workers to rapidly begin home rebuild projects as they become available for the initial and full construction phases.
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).