In mid-July, HUD Southeast Regional Administrator Denise Cleveland Leggett and SE Field Policy and Management team met with USVI Governor Albert Bryan Jr. in Saint Thomas to continue fostering collaboration on the road to recovery after Hurricane Irma. The trip also included a meeting with Robert Graham, Executive Director of the Virgin Islands Housing Authority, a visit to Tutu public housing - devastated by the hurricane, and a tour to rehabilitated elderly housing Sugar Estate Senior Residence, a property built with Low Income Housing Tax Credits that offers HUD subsidized rentals. The group also met withAdrienne Williams, Director, USVI Office of Disaster Recovery, and Daryl Griffith, Executive Director, USVI Housing Finance Authority.

The July 18-19 meetings focused on identifying recovery efforts for future collaboration between the HUD Regional/ Field teams and the Governor's team, community leaders and local government agencies. Areas of collaboration identified included expediting processes and the disbursement of funds, status of waivers requests for recovery activities, and the identification of technical resources for the development of affordable housing and economic development under the Opportunity Zones Program.