By Clayton Henkel

NC Newsline

In his first full day on the job Thursday, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein traveled to western North Carolina where he signed five executive orders to speed recovery for residents still coping with last year’s damage from Hurricane Helene.

Noting that more than 12,000 western North Carolinians are without safe housing, Stein’s first order temporarily waives procurement regulations to increase the supply of temporary housing.

“Winter is here in western North Carolina, and we must act quickly to get people in temporary housing and keep people safe,” said Stein in a written statement. “I will do everything in my power to make sure we are both thinking creatively and acting swiftly to help our neighbors recover.”

The order allows the Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety to purchase up to 1,000 Transportable Temporary Housing Units to be placed in the counties identified in FEMA’s major disaster declaration.

In his second executive order, Gov. Stein delegated his authority to establish emergency assistance funds for the repair of private roads and bridges.

The Division of Emergency Management is directed to contract to repair private residential structures and roads using vendors with which the Division, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, or other state agencies already have existing statewide contracts.

Helene damaged more than 8,000 roads and bridges many of which serve as the only access route for ambulances, fire trucks, school buses and mail delivery.

The additional executive orders will create the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC), a dedicated recovery office for western North Carolina within the office of the governor, and to establish a Division of Community Revitalization within the Department of Commerce to address housing needs and community resilience.

The North Carolina Office of State Human Resources will also authorize an additional 16 hours of community service leave for state employees to volunteer for organized storm recovery efforts.

Stein pledged that helping western North Carolina recover would be a priority for his administration. As N.C. Newsline has previously reported, Stein tapped Esther Manheimer, the mayor of Asheville, back in mid-November to help think about what was needed for the region’s long term recovery.

Deputy Editor Clayton Henkel manages the N.C. Newsline website and daily newsletter, while also producing daily audio commentaries and the weekly News and Views radio program/podcast.