Governor Albert Bryan Jr. made his final appearance before the Interagency Group on Insular Areas (IGIA) on Wednesday, using the virtual gathering to press federal officials for a way to restart housing recovery money frozen by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Bryan asked Interior Assistant Secretary William W. Hague and other federal counterparts to establish a "corrective-action framework" that would allow disaster funds to flow again. The request followed HUD's July 20 suspension of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority (VIHFA), which the agency cited for shortcomings in financial management, compliance procedures, and lack of fraud safeguards.
The governor highlighted $13.7 billion in obligated funding spread across 39 projects, with an additional $12 billion in capital work held up by federal environmental review processes. He indicated that recovery construction is expected to continue through 2028.
Bryan also pressed the federal panel to support efforts to reopen the idle oil refinery on St. Croix's South Shore, describing it as a potential source of skilled employment and domestic refining production. The territory is developing a "workforce housing plan" to accommodate workers needed for upcoming initiatives, he announced.
Nine years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, numerous essential public buildings across the islands remain unfinished. The VIHFA suspension has stalled multifamily housing development even as hundreds of millions in federal disaster recovery money has moved through administrative channels over the past eight years.
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