Despite $23.9 billion in federal disaster recovery funds obligated to the Virgin Islands, only $3.8 billion has been spent so far, officials told senators Thursday during an update on ongoing reconstruction projects and the Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan.
Office of Disaster Recovery Director Adrienne Williams-Octalien, testifying before the Senate Committee on Disaster Recovery, Infrastructure and Planning, said nearly 70 percent of the territory’s 1,600 recovery projects have been completed. An additional 45 are shovel-ready, 86 are under construction, and 218 have yet to begin. She said $238.5 million has been spent across hundreds of projects since February alone.
Among the progress noted were ribbon-cutting ceremonies for the Vincent F. Mason Pool and Reinholdt Jackson Sports Complex, and the release of 20 new solicitations.
Williams-Octalien said ODR has spent $156.2 million from the government’s line of credit, and $100.7 million has been reimbursed by federal funds, leaving $45.3 million available to spend.
“If this body considers an increase to the line of credit to the support of the recovery projects, it will be well-utilized,” she said later. That prompted Sen. Novelle Francis Jr. to note that an amendment will be offered during the Legislature’s next regular session seeking to raise the line of credit cap to $200 million.
Williams-Octalien said 27 homes have been rehabilitated through the Envision Tomorrow home repair program in the past year, for a total of 57 since the program launched in 2019. There are 107 more homes under construction — 68 on St. Croix, 36 on St. Thomas, and three on St. John.
“We have touched about 50 percent, actually interacted with 50 percent of the applicants, where we’ve completed — either their homes have been completed or they’re providing documentation or we’re waiting for them to move out so we can start with their homes,” she said. “And the goal is to have touched all of the remaining applicants by the end of the year.”
Lawmakers generally lauded ODR’s progress but noted that they still receive regular complaints about the slow pace of Envision.
“And the complaints are very specific,” Senate Majority Leader Kurt Vialet said. “The complaints are, ‘they came, they did the evaluation, they sent the contractor, they said they’re going to start construction — a couple weeks after, I get a letter saying they need to reevaluate.’”
Williams-Octalien said she’d need to know about specific cases but noted that each project requires at least three different site visits before construction can start. Later, she said the program’s funding will expire in 2027.
Responding to questions from Sen. Novelle Francis Jr., Williams-Octalien acknowledged that federal funds earmarked for the Randall “Doc” James Racetrack had fallen through.
“FEMA recently sent correspondence to us telling us that the racetrack on St. Croix is no longer eligible for those funds because it was not the responsibility of the territory at the time of the disaster,” she said. “So they’re going to re-obligate those funds.”
Williams-Octalien said the Virgin Islands government has appealed the decision. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. announced legal action against the track’s previous developer, VIGL, during his State of the Territory Address in January. Months later, he announced that the government had taken over the property.
The disaster recovery update came after lawmakers heard from Department of Planning and Natural Resources Commissioner Jean-Pierre Oriol, who testified to the implementation of the Comprehensive Land and Water Use Plan.
Oriol told lawmakers that the biggest challenge is funding, particularly given the Trump administration’s rollback of Biden-era funds and grants.
“For example, the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities … funding opportunity under FEMA has been ceased and the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ proposes a $646 million cut to FEMA non-disaster grant programs,” he said. “Many NOAA-funded planning grants have also been cut, limiting our opportunities for federal resource support.”
Oriol said DPNR has been working with the V.I. Housing Finance Authority to pursue funds through the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Department’s Community Development Block Grant – Mitigation program.
