VI to Start Spending $1B Approved Disaster Funding This Month, Housing Finance Authority Says

Following a U.S. Government Accountability Office (G.A.O.) study that found the Government of the U.S. Virgin Islands had yet to spend any of the more than $1 billion in disaster funding released to it for use by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority (V.I.H.F.A.), whose jurisdiction includes administering the funds by initiating a number of local projects, said during a Senate hearing on Tuesday that V.I.H.F.A. would begin spending the funds this month.

“The territory is working closely with HUD and has the necessary processes in place to begin drawing the funds this month in April,” Mr. Griffith told lawmakers during a Committee on Finance hearing held to hear from a number of government arms and private companies responsible for the territory’s rebuild in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and the federal funding that facilitates the reconstruction.

Governor Albert Bryan, during an interview with The Consortium on Tuesday, said that while the runoff election had caused some delays, the projects would soon commence. He pointed to a recently announced new roofing program by V.I.H.F.A., whose funds are not being provided through FEMA, but HUD. This represents a marked difference for the territory’s recovery: “A significant difference between the HUD funded CDBG-DR programs and the FEMA-funded programs is that HUD reimburses based on approved invoices while FEMA reimburses based on proof of payment. That means the HUD difference will increase cash flow and decrease the payment processing time while simultaneously allowing for detail auditing to protect taxpayer funded relief dollars,” Mr. Griffith said in his testimony to lawmakers Tuesday.

Even with this new development, the governor said red tape continues to sedate the recovery. “As you recall, when I went to Congress there was a tremendous amount of red tape that I testified on before the [U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources] in order to get these funds spent,” he said.

Read more: https://viconsortium.com/news-2/territory-to-start-spending-1-billion-approved-disaster-funding-this-month-housing-finance-authority-says/