Should N.C. use an insurance model for disaster rebuilding?
It wouldn't be perfect, but this model would almost certainly get homes rebuilt in under a decade
This week, the General Assembly held another hearing on hurricane recovery, pressing the Stein administration on whether they’ve learned any lessons from the inexcusable disaster that was Gov. Roy Cooper’s Matthew and Florence recovery process.
I’m not convinced that they have, though I’m heartened that legislators are moving more quickly to hold the executive branch accountable post-Helene.
We didn’t learn much from the hearing beyond that, though there was some written testimony that I found interesting.
The suggestion is this: Shift North Carolina rebuilding efforts from one where the government controls all aspects of the construction process to an insurance model, where the state puts an award amount in escrow and homeowners can choose for themselves the contractors they use and how they want to proceed.
The testimony claims that this method was proposed by Richard Trumper, who came in as an advisor on hurricane recovery in 2023. It further claims that the Cooper administration rejected the model outright.
Below the paywall, you’ll find some stark stats about how an insurance model in Louisiana had a lot more success after Hurricane Katrina, though not without problems. It also asks readers with expertise in this arena to email me and let me know your thoughts on whether this is a good idea.