Report: NC relief program for hurricanes Matthew, Florence was ‘logistical nightmare’

Some victims of hurricanes Florence and Matthew remained in temporary housing for more than 1,400 days because the state agency created to lead disaster recovery prioritized “process management” over repairing and rebuilding homes, according to a new report by the State Auditor’s office.

The General Assembly created the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency in 2018 to lead recovery efforts after Hurricane Florence, which hit the state that year, and Hurricane Matthew, which hit in 2016. However, state leaders in recent years found the program to be both over budget and slow to help the residents of eastern North Carolina who had been affected by the storms.

The office, known as NCORR, has been under scrutiny for years, with Republican state lawmakers at times squaring off with office leaders appointed by Roy Cooper, who served as governor from 2017 to 2025. 

State lawmakers last year summoned the program's director, Laura Hogshead, to testify at the Capitol in Raleigh. A week later, she was pushed out. Gov. Josh Stein, upon entering office earlier this year, shifted disaster recovery responsibilities from NCORR to a new office known as GROW NC. 

The report released Wednesday by State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican elected last year, offers new insights into some of the sources of NCORR’s problems. 

“What was originally created to help hurricane victims turned into a logistical nightmare,” the report says, adding, “The story of NCORR is a story of the government failing the very people it is meant to support.”

During a news conference about the report, Boliek said he was exasperated by NCORR’s misuse of funds and slow delivery of relief. 

For instance, NCORR spent $25 million on a data management program to track projects. But inconsistent use of the program led to information gaps that slowed officials’ ability to make progress on cases. That prolonged an approval process that required eight steps to complete, extending the average completion time to 100 days per step. 

As a result, the office at times spent more than $230,000 on temporary lodging for a single household. Boliek said that NCORR could have built new houses from scratch with the amount of money it spent on temporary housing.

“It's really infuriating to consider how poorly this was managed,” Boliek said.

Boliek said his office searched for evidence of theft or fraud but found none, adding: “It was just mismanagement. It was just setting up a program and throwing money at a situation without sticking to a mission with incremental goals and measurables.”

Boliek lamented that the slow pace of construction affects small, rural towns that are already struggling due to other economic factors. 

“If you don’t have businesses rebuilt, people are gonna move because they don't have anywhere to go to work," he said.

Boliek’s report includes a number of recommendations for improving disaster response, including creating a new partnership for disaster recovery. NCORR is already slated to shut down next year. 

Pryor Gibson, who took over NCORR late last year, said the office is already making progress on some of Boliek’s recommendations. Gibson responded to Boliek’s findings in a one-page letter that was included in the auditor’s report.

“NCORR has significantly improved its financial management systems to ensure the program can complete its work and close out in accordance with statutory timelines,” Gibson said. “Our leadership has actively shared lessons learned with leaders of Helene recovery efforts, including GROW NC.”

At the start of 2025, about 1,000 families in eastern North Carolina were still waiting for their homes to be repaired or rebuilt following the damage they suffered in those storms nearly a decade ago. By April, 368 homes were under construction and another 404 other projects had been funded and approved for construction. 

Kate Frauenfelder, a spokesperson for Stein, said the governor’s office is still reviewing Boliek’s report but intends to continue working with NCORR to implement improvements. 

“Since taking office in January, Gov. Stein has been committed to completing NCORR’s mission and getting people back into their homes,” Frauenfelder said.

Boliek’s report comes as Cooper is now running for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat that’s up for election next year. Incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis isn’t seeking reelection. 

Boliek on Wednesday didn’t criticize Cooper by name, saying: “For the auditor’s office, this is not about politics. This is about moving the ball forward.”

However, Boliek did allow Republican legislators to take the mic at his press conference. And one of the speakers, state Sen. Buck Newton of Wilson County, blamed Cooper for NCORR’s shortcomings. 

“We had an election in 2016. We elected a guy governor. His name was Roy Cooper.

All of this was done under his administration,” Newton said, adding: “I'm encouraged that we're seeing things turn around today, but it is 10 years too late.”

Cooper has previously said the federal government didn’t provide enough resources to meet North Carolina’s recovery needs. His campaign reiterated that claim in a statement on Wednesday.

“After Hurricanes Florence and Matthew, the Cooper administration oversaw the repair and rebuilding of more than 13,000 homes that were built to withstand future storms in addition to hundreds of roads, bridges and public buildings, even when the first Trump administration provided only about half of the funding that North Carolina needed,” said Jordan Monaghan, a spokesperson for Cooper’s campaign.