Hurricane Matthew grants arrive for homeowner buyouts, repairs

May 02-- May 2--Three years ago, the roof of Albert Pearce's home in the Southgate RV Park collapsed during Hurricane Matthew, leaving a gaping hole in his ceiling.

"The wind and the rain were coming in my house probably for about 28 hours," Pearce said. "I moved in with mom for for four months. I'm a grown man. I felt funny living with my mom, so I just went back home and started working on my house."

Over the years, he's continued to work on his house using his own money after his homeowner's insurance failed to cover all the expense.

On Wednesday, he was smiling as he signed papers to receive a $25,000 federal grant check that will reimburse him.

The funds are coming from a federal program designed to help low-to-moderate-income residents repair homes damaged by storms.

Pearce was the first recipient of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds to Fayetteville for Hurricane Matthew damage.

The program also is offering Pearce about $11,000 worth of additional repair work if it's needed.

Pearce is just one of many Fayetteville homeowners affected by Hurricane Matthew flooding who still are seeing relief.

There were 12 homeowners who received state funding for home buyouts from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program and the remaining qualified homeowners should be paid by mid-May.

"We will be awarding more in the coming weeks," said Cynthia Blot, the economic and community development director for Fayetteville.

A number of people who qualified for funding owned homes in Hollywood Heights, a low-lying area where homes have repeatedly sustained flood damage.

The buyout program is designed to get rid of homes in low-lying areas with flooding. The total appraised property value for the homes is $1.326 million. Homeowners who received funds through the program had to be in the 100-year floodplain to qualify, but were not restricted based on their incomes.

"Those checks were based on pre-hurricane values," Blot said.

The recovery funding awards began Wednesday. Horne LLP is facilitating the local process.

Fayetteville City Council members have been critical of the amount of time it has taken for residents to get the federal funding.

However, the reason for the the grant money delay was that it had to come after all other funding sources were exhausted, such as homeowners insurance and Federal Emergency Management Agency funding, Blot said.

She said people still can apply for grant money.

"The Matthew (recovery programs) are closed," Blot said. "The Florence programs are open. We recommend everybody who is interested -- whether it's a business or a resident -- call 211 or go online and the application is there."

Staff writer John Henderson can be reached at [email protected] or 910-486-3596.

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