AUSTIN — AUSTIN - Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush is pleased to announce that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has awarded an additional $50.7 million to the state of Texas to assist in long-term recovery efforts following severe flooding events that occurred in 2015 and 2016.  The state of Texas will be awarded an additional $22.4 million, to be administered by the General Land Office's Community Development and Revitalization (CDR) program. Additionally direct allocations will be awarded in the amount of $7.7 million to the city of San Marcos and $20.5 million to the city of Houston.

"I would like to thank HUD Secretary Ben Carson and our Texas Congressional Delegation who worked diligently to secure these much-needed additional funds and for their continued commitment to the recovery needs of Texas," said Commissioner Bush. "More than three-quarters of our state's population lives in one of the counties affected by these floods. In many cases, the damage done to our communities in the 2016 floods was compounded by the previous damage that occurred in 2015. The GLO will continue to work with leaders in the affected communities to prioritizing projects to maximize the benefit for all residents. We must work together to efficiently and diligently to turn these funds into effective results."

On May 5th, President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017, which included $400 million to support recovery from major disasters in 2015 and later.  The Act directs HUD to allocate the remaining funds ($263.3 million) at a future date to areas that experience disasters meeting the 'most impacted' threshold HUD announced last January. 

The GLO estimates a combined loss of more than $2 billion in unmet long-term recovery needs from the 2015 - 2016 Flood Events when considering the impact of the multiple disasters suffered by Texas in both 2015 and 2016. 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 allocations are made. The Texas counties affected by the 2015 - 2016 floods represent 76 percent of the Texas population or 20.9 million people. This population total is greater than that of 48 states. Other states receiving additional funding are Louisiana ($51.4 million), West Virginia ($3.2 million), North Carolina ($6.1 million), South Carolina ($50.3 million) and Florida ($1.8 million). 

The CDR program of the GLO administers the Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) on behalf of the state of Texas. Funds totaling approximately $4 billion have been allocated for recovery following Hurricanes Rita, Dolly, and Ike, the 2011 wildfires, and the 2015 and 2016 floods. While the current allocation of CDBG-DR funds is well below the previously identified $2 billion in unmet needs, the GLO and its Community Development and Revitalization (CDR) program remain committed to helping Texans recover in the most effective and efficient means.

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.

Additional information on long-term disaster recovery is available at TexasRebuilds.org.

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