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:
This week, crews are continuing work towards completion of six homes that are in active construction. One home is still awaiting utility activation to be ready for final inspection by the West Virginia National Guard Quality Assurance/Quality Control team.
There are 67 other reconstruction and mobile home unit replacement projects at varying points in the initial construction phase, including environmental permitting and inspections. An additional 11 projects received homeowner agreement signatures this week, while there are 26 other projects awaiting signed homeowner agreements.
Work on the Bridge program continued in Roane County this week as steel beams were delivered to the site. This project is expected to be fully complete within the next week, marking the first completed bridge in the Bridge Home Program. There remain an additional eight bridges ready for construction and work is expected to begin on a second bridge in Nicholas County within the next two weeks.
There are currently 18 projects in the final stages of the environmental review process for the Slum and Blight program. It is expected that demolition on these projects could begin as early as next week, once the environmental reviews are complete. There are an additional 131 projects currently in the Slum and Bligh program, 100 of which are ready for the environmental review process. An additional 32 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 is 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.
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).