In a long-awaited draft of the state budget, North Carolina lawmakers unveiled a $706 million package that would go toward Hurricane Helene recovery.
The proposal would create a temporary housing assistance program, fund more volunteer-driven home repairs and add money to the state’s underfunded private road and bridge repair program. But the largest share of the package would go towards helping state and local governments unlock matching funding from federal recovery programs.
The draft of the roughly $34 billion state budget was released Tuesday, nearly a year behind schedule. The House and Senate are expected to vote on the plan this week and send the bill to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk by late Thursday.
Dubbed “The Disaster Recovery Act of 2026,” the funding would be the state’s sixth major Helene relief package. Helene caused an estimated $60 billion in damage and recovery needs statewide. As of March 31, about $12.3 billion in state and federal funding have been directed toward North Carolina’s recovery — roughly one-fifth of that total, according to a May financial report from Stein’s office. Earlier this month, Stein asked Congress for $10 billion in additional support.
A boost to housing and road recovery
The proposed budget sets aside $40 million for a new temporary relocation assistance program, which would be available to homeowners enrolled in Renew NC’s rebuilding program and to low-income applicants who meet hardship requirements and have exhausted other housing options.
Relocation assistance would address a significant "choke point" in the state’s home repair program. Presently, people who would qualify for the program are having to decline or delay home repairs because they have nowhere to live while work is underway, which has resulted in a backlog.
The package also includes $35 million for volunteer organizations — known as VOADs — that are working on home repair and reconstruction. The state has credited these groups with having played a major role in recovery, especially for households that are still waiting on government programs, insurance payments or other forms of assistance.
The state’s private road and bridge repair program would also receive $30 million, including $8 million reserved for VOADs doing private road and bridge work. That program has been severely underfunded. The state said in February that it only had enough money to pay for 10% out of the more than 3,600 unique applications the program received.
The budget would also direct North Carolina Emergency Management and NCDOT to speed up the private road and bridge program by using faster contracting methods, creating expedited tracks for eligible projects and requiring a simpler private-bridge design standard within 60 days.
Local governments would receive another $65 million for capital grants, with up to $30 million of that amount available to qualifying volunteer fire departments. There is also a $27 million local government grant specifically for Madison County and a $5 million grant for the Veterans Restoration Quarters, an Asheville-based facility that houses homeless veterans and was destroyed by Helene.
Lawmakers support Stein’s request for federal cost-share help
The largest single allocation of funding is aimed at helping the state and local governments cover their share of federal disaster recovery costs.
The bill would set aside $450 million for North Carolina Emergency Management to pay the nonfederal share of recovery programs such as debris removal, infrastructure repairs and hazard mitigation.
This allocation was the centerpiece of Gov. Josh Stein’s March budget request, and lawmakers appear to have included only $2 million less than the full ask.
Federal cost shares have become a major fiscal pressure point in the recovery. In the first six months after Helene, FEMA covered 100% of the state’s spending on Helene recovery. But the agency later denied North Carolina’s request to extend that full federal cost share, a decision Stein warned could cost state taxpayers “potentially hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Stein’s office has since estimated that North Carolina will need to pay $205 million for its share of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers debris removal work. His office also estimates the state will need roughly $513 million to cover its 25% share of FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
Where lawmakers diverged from Stein’s request
While lawmakers backed Stein’s central request for cost-share money, they did not adopt his proposal wholesale.
The biggest difference is for private roads and bridges: Stein requested $100 million, but the budget includes $30 million. Stein has also asked the federal government for assistance. As part of the $10 billion request he made earlier this month, he wants $300 million set aside specifically for the repair of private and municipal roads and bridges. He recently traveled to Washington to advocate for the request, but there’s been no progress yet. Last week the Trump administration made an $87 million funding request from Congress, but did not include any Helene relief in that package.
Lawmakers left out several of Stein’s proposed economic and resilience programs, including small business forgivable loans, VIPER emergency radio towers, flood resilience projects, wastewater restoration and microgrids. Other requests, including local government cash-flow loans, tourism promotion and flood gauges, were scaled back from Stein’s initial request.
