State certification could speed rebuilding of Craven’s hurricane damaged homes damaged homes

Todd Wetherington, Sun Journal
·4 min read
A local nonprofit is working to help building contractors gain a state certification that could speed up the process of repairing hurricane damaged homes in Craven and surrounding counties.
A local nonprofit is working to help building contractors gain a state certification that could speed up the process of repairing hurricane damaged homes in Craven and surrounding counties.

Nearly four years after Hurricane Florence, a number of residents in Craven, Jones and Pamlico counties are still waiting on critical home repairs. According to Rusty Cready, the N.C. operations director for Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders, a state certification process for building contractors could help speed up that process.

Cready said the relatively small number of local contractors that are certified to work on projects funded through the state ReBuild NC program is one reason the hurricane repair process has dragged on for some homeowners.

ReBuild NC was established by the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency to assist residents whose homes were damaged as a result of Hurricane Florence in 2018 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016. The agency’s Homeowner Recovery Program provides assistance to repair, reconstruct, replace or elevate homes or reimburse residents for completed repairs.

“Usually after a hurricane a fair amount of money comes in, nonprofits come in and then it starts drying up, especially if there’s other disasters in other parts of the country,” Cready said. “The ReBuild NC money is funding that is still available.”

More: New Bern residents return to a daunting cleanup following Hurricane Florence

Under ReBuild NC’s policy, however, general contractors that are awarded the agency's projects must employ subcontractors that are Section 3 certified with the state. Section 3 contractors must certify they are more than 50% owned by low or very low income individuals or that three-quarters of their work is done by low or very low income individuals.

According to Cready, there are only 32 Section 3 contractors in the entire state of North Carolina, with most located in the Charlotte, Raleigh and Lumberton areas.

Rusty Cready, the NC operations director for Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders, is working to get more contractors certified to work on hurricane damaged homes in Craven and surrounding counties.
Rusty Cready, the NC operations director for Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders, is working to get more contractors certified to work on hurricane damaged homes in Craven and surrounding counties.

Cready said there are currently no Section 3 certified contractors operating locally.

“I've seen a lot of Request for Proposals (RFP's) from ReBuild NC canceled due to no bids, not meeting the requirements,” Cready said. “It’s a struggle not having enough general contractors in this area that are not RebuildNC-qualified because there’s a lot of people living in pretty bad conditions.”

Cready said Fuller Center Disaster Rebuilders acquired a general contractor license a year and a half ago specifically to hire Section 3 subcontractors for ReBuild NC projects. He said the nonprofit has worked on 10 homes for the agency and has contracts for six others, from Kinston and Havelock to Bertie County.

More: New Bern study seeks to hold back the tide in flood-prone community

According to Cready, Fuller Center will be bidding on a package of 28 ReBuild NC homes within an hour of New Bern in the next week.

“It’s likely we’ll have another hurricane in the next two to three years, so this work might never go away,” Cready said.

How do contactors become Section 3 certified?

A pile of Hurricane Florence storm debris covers a sidewalk on Main Street in Pollocksville in September 2018.
A pile of Hurricane Florence storm debris covers a sidewalk on Main Street in Pollocksville in September 2018.

The Section 3 Business Registry is a national registry of employers that have self-certified to the Department of Housing and Urban Development that they meet the Section 3 criteria.

Businesses can sign up for the Section 3 Business Registry at https://hudapps.hud.gov/OpportunityPortal/

According to HUD, Section 3 businesses must:

  • Be 51% or more owned by residents of public housing or persons whose income does not exceed HUD’s local area low-income limits

  • Be comprised of 30% or more full-time employees who are Section 3 residents

  • Provide evidence of a firm commitment to award 25% or more of sub-contracts to businesses that meet the above specifications.

Cready said he recently sent out an email to local economic development managers and community colleges seeking help in getting the world out about Section 3 certification. He said he had received “a couple of emails” in response.

“I’m just trying to stir the pot and see if we can get some people motivated about this, because 95 percent of the homes we’ve worked on are underinsured, low-income individuals,” Cready said.

More: Nearly three years after Hurricane Florence, New Bern’s repair work, prep for next storm continues

Providing more Section 3 certified contractors could also positively impact the local economy, Cready added.

“There is an opportunity when these contracts are awarded, assuming you have enough certified contractors, to keep a lot of the work local," he commented. "ReBuild NC isn’t the quickest program in the world but it is the group that has the funding to continue to help.”

To find out more about the Section 3 certification, call Rusty Cready at 252-626-0443 or visit https://sites.google.com/site/dhcdsection3/Home/section-3-for-developer--general-contractors---subcontractors

To find out more about ReBuild NC's Homeowner Recovery Program, visit https://www.rebuild.nc.gov/homeowners-and-landlords/homeowner-recovery-program

This article originally appeared on Sun Journal: Local nonprofit hopes to speed repair of hurricane damaged homes