Not a single application for a homeowner buyout through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP) submitted by western North Carolina homeowners affected by Hurricane Helene has been approved, according to Democratic Gov. Josh Stein, as the Oct. 31 deadline to apply quickly approaches.
Hundreds of homeowners in western NC can’t move on with their lives because FEMA has not approved a single application of its homeowner buyout program since Hurricane Helene hit last year. That’s simply unacceptable. pic.twitter.com/UReyFUdxvI
— Governor Josh Stein (@NC_Governor) October 16, 2025
Hurricane Helene, which struck western North Carolina on Sept. 24, 2024, caused an estimated $60 billion in damage.
The program, which is designed to reduce or eliminate future damages and losses following a disaster, is managed by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s Division of Emergency Management.
Property owners can receive assistance with mitigation methods, such as structure elevation, structural reinforcement, and the buyout of damaged properties, of which there were many in western North Carolina.
At a Joint Legislative Governmental Operations Subcommittee hearing last month, there was a general consensus on one issue surrounding the recovery efforts from the storm: the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s bureaucracy has been a hindrance, not a help.
Matt Calabria, director for the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC), criticized FEMA’s grant program, which is designed to buy out damaged homes. The federal government pays 75%, and the state pays the remaining 25%.
HMGP requires authorization on the front end, with US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem instituting a signature requirement for all expenditures over $100,000.
He noted that applications for home buyouts were submitted to the federal government in February, and no homes have been approved for the HMGP program to date.
Calabria also said that the HMGP program doesn’t announce the amount of funding it will receive until a year out.
“I know you got to balance your budget, pass a budget by the end of June every year, and they’ve got Swiss cheese tax bases for the reasons we talked about,” he said, referring to county governments. “So, they don’t know what their fund balance is going to look like; they don’t know what their debt load is going to look like. They don’t technically know whether they’re going to be reimbursed how much, and yet they’ve got to set tax rates. And they don’t know what their tax base looks like because of HMGP delays. And then on top of that, they’ve got to worry about their bond rating, which they would have had to worry about anyway when they’re talking about building schools or repairing facilities and that sort of thing.”
County officials also spoke about their frustrations with FEMA at last month’s hearing.
“Our biggest obstacle moving forward is the lack of clarity and consistent guidance from FEMA,” said Avery County Commissioner Dennis Aldridge, who spoke at the hearing. “Every time we get close to the finish line, they change the goal posts. We’re willing to connect the dots; just don’t keep moving the dots. And every time that we get close, something changes.”
Stephanie McGarrah, deputy secretary for the Department of Commerce’s Division of Community Revitalization, who also spoke at the hearing, said the first house under the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC) should be completed by January, and noted that there has been a lot of red tape with the federal government.
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