The V.I. Disaster Recovery Office touted the obligation of $18.1 billion toward the territory’s recovery from hurricanes Irma and Maria in its 2024 annual report, released last week. By the end of the year, the territory had expended more than $3.6 billion and completed more than a thousand projects.
The report highlighted major milestones in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ seven-year recovery effort reached last year, including the completion of the Walter I. M. Hodge Pavilion on St. Croix, the launch of Rebuild USVI and the adjustment to the territory’s federal cost-share requirement in February 2024. That adjustment upped the federal contribution from 90 to 95 percent for many disaster recovery projects and 98 percent for 241 infrastructure projects.
“The 10 percent cost share for FEMA disaster recovery grants could have cost the territory close to $2 billion, based on current projections of a $20 billion recovery,” according to the report. “The long-awaited adjustment will put approximately $1.1 billion back into the hands of the territory.”
Under the Rebuild USVI initiative, which Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. formally announced during his 2024 State of the Territory Address, the territory established a “Super Project Management Office” to issue billion-dollar procurement bundles.
“The feedback gained from Tier One contractors was that the way business is done had to change,” according to the report. “The territory would need to develop projects totaling $1 billion or more, streamline processes, clear lines for decision-making, timely payments, and shared risk procurement.”
The Rebuild USVI team awarded a $137 million construction and project management services contract in August, though the runner-up later sued the Virgin Islands government in September, alleging conflicts of interest and a violation of federal procurement procedures. A federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of the claims last month.
The report also noted ODR’s launch of the “Own a Lot, Build A Home” first-time homebuyer program, which identified 131 “potential applicants” and is supported by memoranda of understanding from Banco Popular and the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Rural Development. According to testimony ODR Director Adrienne Williams-Octalien presented to the Senate Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure and Planning Committee in February, the program has four applicants.
Under the once-moribund EnVIsion Tomorrow home rehabilitation and reconstruction program, 38 homes had been completed by the end of 2024 and 93 were in the construction phase.
According to Williams-Octalien’s February testimony, the number of completed homes has since risen to 43. The program received 2,084 applicants, of whom 610 were found eligible to have their homes repaired. Williams-Octalien acknowledged continued challenges with the program, including difficulties acquiring the right documents from applicants, permitting delays, rising construction costs and the lack of temporary housing options.
The report also included a message from V.I. Housing Finance Authority Executive Director Eugene Jones Jr., who began by noting the $145 million U.S. Housing and Urban Development-funded acquisition of Vitol’s propane infrastructure. Further, Jones highlighted $527.5 million in allocations to affordable housing rehabilitation, construction and enhancement and $16.7 million in allocations to 28 local businesses through a CDBG mitigation grant.
The full report can be found here.
