Darryl Griffith, the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority’s (V.I.H.F.A.) executive director, announced at Governor Mapp’s Wednesday hurricane recovery press briefing that over 1,000 people had registered for assistance under the recently announced Emergency Home Repair V.I. Project, which Mr. Mapp said would provide funding for repairs on up to 12,000 homes in the territory. The program, initiated with a $766 million Federal Emergency Management Agency (F.E.M.A.) grant, is being spearheaded by the local government through V.I.H.F.A. For those that qualify, the program is expected average $25,000 in repairs per home in the territory, according to the governor.
“The true emergency in this program is that in five months we’re going to be right back in hurricane season in the Virgin Islands, and we’d like to do everything possible to get all of our citizens in safe and habitable homes before that happens,” said Darryl Griffith, who also serves as V.I.H.F.A.’s chief financial officer.
To qualify, you must:
- Be the owner of the home
- It must be your primary residence (you can apply even if you’re living in the U.S., according to the governor)
- Be able to substantiate storm damage
- Have a FEMA registration number (If you don’t have a number, apply for one by calling 1-800-621-3362, or online here.
According to Mr. Mapp, even if you applied for a Small Business Administration loan and was successful or unsuccessful, you can qualify for help under the new program. And even if you’ve received insurance monies for damages on your home, you can still be approved, the governor said. If you were approved for all personal assistance that have been provided so far, and have received aid, you can still qualify for further assistance under the new program, he said.
Interested persons should call the V.I.H.F.A.’s hotline at 844-813-9191, or visit the signup website here. You can also simply walk into one of V.I.H.F.A.’s offices located at Frenchtown in St. Thomas, or Lagoon Street in Frederiksted, St. Croix. If you’ve signed up online, there’s no need to visit the physical locations, the governor stressed.
There will be three job fairs held across the territory to help residents with registration: February 20 at the Cardiac Center on St. Croix, February 22 at the University of the Virgin Islands Sports and Fitness Center in St. Thomas, and on St. John the job fair will be held on February 23, at a location yet to be determined.
The governor said there are 15 items that make homeowners eligible to receive funding for repairs under the program. Some of the conditions include:
- Work to provide essential power supply (damaged weatherhead, for example)
- Work necessary to provide propane gas supply
- Work to provide potable waterline supply (damaged plumbing)
- Repairs to cistern (including cleaning of cistern for contamination)
- Work necessary to repair and replace damaged windows or wall-mounted air conditioning units, ceiling fans or doors
- Weatherproofing to include roof, walls and windows
- Securing or replacing broken windows, and the repairing and replacement of non-functioning exterior and interior doors
- Removal of disaster-related debris to safely enter, inspect and to perform eligible emergency work, and safety shelter in place
“Anything related to the disaster that affects your home, you can apply for this program,” Mr. Mapp said. He said Aecom, one of the firms that won the bid for the project, along with V.I.H.F.A., started contacting around 1,000 homeowners on Monday, who sustained roof damage but were deemed ineligible for the blue roof program. “We are going to reach out to you because we see you as the priority simply because you were not being adequately sheltered, and your home could not be adequately covered,” Mr. Mapp said. Once contacted, these homeowners will visit a designated center to fill out documents. An inspector will then be assigned to determine what the level of repairs are — which the governor said will average about $25,000 — before providing the funding.
About 9 contractors have already been retained as subcontractors under the main contract of the project, the governor made known, adding that more licensed contractors and tradespeople will be hired. “We will be doing that across the media and letting folks know what they need to do and where they need to show up,” Mr. Mapp said.
The governor also reached out to landlords living in, say, a duplex that was damaged during the storms, asking that they register, “and we will figure out if we can bring you into the program, and if we can persuade FEMA that that’s essential to sheltering,” he said. The governor stressed that registration does not mean that the program has been approved for landlords or renters, “but we’re working that through.”
Tags: Emergency Repairs VI Project, us virgin islands, usvi
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