Today U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson announced the allocation of an additional $57.8 million, provided through HUD's Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program, to help Texas recover from Hurricane Harvey. The funds will be administered by the Texas General Land Office's Community Development & Revitalization program.
"The damage from Hurricane Harvey affected more than 100,000 square miles and nearly a fifth of the counties in Texas," said Commissioner Bush. "While we continue to team with our local partners to implement the short-term housing assistance programs provided by FEMA, we will simultaneously be working with our HUD partners on the framework for this new allocation of long-term disaster recovery funding. We are committed to working efficiently to turn these funds into effective results."
In a release announcing the funding, HUD stated that it "opted to allocate the funds to Texas as it has an existing recovery plan, as a result of funds awarded for 2016 disasters, that can serve as a rapid launch platform for the use of these funds. As additional disaster data become available in the coming weeks for areas impacted by major disasters declared in 2017, HUD will use those data to allocate the $7.4 billion in disaster recovery grants appropriated in September in an equitable and consistent manner, based on a clear understanding of unmet needs."
On September 8th, President Trump signed the Continuing Appropriations Act, 2018 and Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, 2017, which included $15.25 billon to support response and recovery from Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Of the $15.25 billion, $7.4 billion was appropriated to HUD for long-term recovery. These grants can be used for a wide variety of activities including housing redevelopment, business assistance and infrastructure repair. HUD will publish a notice in the Federal Register that will define the criteria for the use of these funds and CDR will keep impacted communities informed on developments.
The GLO estimates a combined loss of more than $68.6 billion in unmet long-term recovery needs from Hurricane Harvey. Impacts tied to business interruption, economic losses, unemployment, property tax revenue decreases, agricultural losses and other measures that are difficult to quantify are not considered when making allocations.
"Clearly, the long-term needs in Texas far exceed this allocation so I anticipate this down payment will be targeted to address damaged housing to help Texans move forward with their own recovery," said Secretary Carson. "As we work to allocate additional funding in a fair and effective manner, states and communities can count on HUD to be a strong partner in efforts to recover from the hurricanes and other major disasters our nation experienced this year."
About GLO Community Development & Revitalization
The CDR program of the Texas General Land Office administers the Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) on behalf of the state of Texas. Funds of approximately $4 billion have been allocated for recovery following Hurricanes Rita, Dolly, and Ike, the 2011 wildfires, and the 2015 and 2016 floods. These grants can be used for a wide variety of activities including housing redevelopment, business assistance, and infrastructure repair. CDR will keep impacted communities informed on developments.
For more information, please visit TexasRebuilds.org.