State Office of Resilience outlines Hurricane Helene recovery programs, opens local intake office in Aiken County

The South Carolina Office of Resilience detailed programs to help Hurricane Helene survivors and said it will open a local disaster case management office in Aiken County to accept applications and assess eligibility for housing repairs and replacement.

Eric Fossmeier, chief of staff for the South Carolina Office of Resilience, told the council the federal appropriation to the state totals $150,000,000 through the HUD Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program (CDBG-DR), with about $123,000,000 earmarked for housing and roughly $19,000,000 available for mitigation projects for local governments. Fossmeier said the state expects to reach roughly 700 households with the housing funds.

Fossmeier said the program prioritizes low- and moderate-income households and gives extra priority to households with age-dependent members (under 18 or 65 and older) or disabled residents. "We lessen the impact of disasters on our citizens across the state," Fossmeier said, describing the officemission to plan, coordinate, and administer long-term recovery and mitigation.

Why it matters: HUD-designated "most impacted and distressed" counties receive about 80% of the housing portion of the award; Aiken County is one of those six counties, Fossmeier said, meaning residents of Aiken County and North Augusta are likely to see a larger share of available housing recovery dollars than other counties in the state.

What the programs cover: The CDBG-DR housing line will fund single-family rehabilitation or replacement (including new stick-built homes and, in some cases, replacement mobile homes), rental assistance, and voluntary buyouts. Fossmeier said buyouts return frequently flooded parcels to open space and are voluntary. He said the program can replace a manufactured home with a factory-built double-wide in some cases, or build a modest 3- to 4-bedroom stick-built house when warranted.

Fossmeier described a separate parallel state-funded rapid rebuild program of up to $38,000,000 (with $20,000,000 initially available) intended to accelerate construction while the HUD grant is finalized. He said some construction using state dollars could begin as early as August on a small number of already-eligible destroyed homes.

Intake office and timeline: The Office of Resilience plans a regional office for Aiken County at 900 Trail Ridge Road, with mobile intake capability to visit libraries, community centers or residents who cannot travel. Fossmeier said the HUD grant agreement remained in a federal approval process but that disaster case managers are already registering clients; once the HUD grant is signed, the Office will move eligible applicants into the housing recovery application process. He said HUD allows up to six years to complete the grant but the state expects to finish most work in about three years absent another major disaster.

Application and prioritization: Fossmeier urged residents to apply to disaster case management before expecting a final eligibility decision. "If we're not going to get to you, we're going to let you know," he said, explaining the office will tell applicants early if they fall outside likely funding priorities so they are not left waiting indefinitely.

Mitigation funding: About $19,000,000 in mitigation funding is available but limited to the six HUD-identified counties; the office will accept mitigation project proposals in the fall and prefers shovel-ready stormwater or green infrastructure projects. Fossmeier said mitigation can include local buyouts organized by a local government rather than individual-initiated buyouts under the housing program.

Local outreach: Fossmeier said the office will post materials online and coordinate with the city to direct residents to intake staff, and that the state will deploy implementation vendors and contractors after procurement so construction can begin once the grant is active.

"Once we start building homes, we'll prove up to folks that we're actually delivering," Fossmeier said, describing the effect earlier projects had on application volume in other counties.

Ending: City administrator Jim Clifford introduced the presentation and said the city would post the Office of Resilience materials on the city's Hurricane Helene website and share contact information with residents. Fossmeier said he would remain in the building after the presentation for questions and that staff from the Office of Resilience would be available at a staffed intake center on the first floor.