AUSTIN — The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is announcing details for three regional public hearings to seek input on the use of $4,297,189,00 in funding for mitigation projects in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey as well as 2015 and 2016 Floods. The GLO will directly administer these funds, while the cities of Houston and San Marcos will administer separate, direct allocations of $61,884,000 and $24,012,000, respectively, for the 2015 Floods.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided the funding through the Community Development Block Grant - Mitigation (CDBG-MIT). As a part of the federal requirements, the GLO will conduct at least four public hearings as a part of the State Action Plan drafting and approval process, which is expected to take about nine months. 
Austin Regional Public Hearing Date: Tomorrow, September 26 Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon)
Location: Texas State Capitol, Capitol Auditorium, E1.004 1100 Congress Avenue, Austin, TX 78701 Watch LIVE: https://tinyurl.com/y2y2tyv3

Beaumont Regional Public Hearing NEW Date: Tuesday, October 1
Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon)
Location: Jefferson County Courthouse, Jury Empaneling Room
1149 Pearl Street, Beaumont, TX 77701 Watch LIVE: https://tinyurl.com/y3rua9f7

NEW: Corpus Christi Regional Public Hearing Date: Wednesday, October 2
Time: 12:00 p.m. (noon)
Location: Del Mar College, Center for Economic Development Room #106
3209 S. Staples Street, Corpus Christi, TX 78411 Watch LIVE: https://tinyurl.com/y4jl9wwg

The listening sessions will be live streamed and made available after the meetings. Please use the links above to view the live broadcast. Comments can be submitted in person or via email at cdr@recovery.texas.gov. The public notice can be found here: https://recovery.texas.gov/public-notices/index.html.

Reasonable accommodations will be available for persons attending the public hearing. Requests for special accommodations should be received 24-hours prior to each hearing. The public hearing will be conducted in English and requests for language interpreters or other special communication needs should be made at least 48 hours prior to a function. Please call 512-463-5139 or email cdr@recovery.texas.gov for assistance.

Information on CDBG-MIT   On August 23, 2019, HUD released mandatory rules for the use of more than $4.3 billion in funding for mitigation projects, which were appropriated by Congress on February 9, 2018. Publication of rules in the Federal Register are necessary for the GLO to begin drafting a state action plan, before sending it to HUD for approval. This process is expected to take approximately nine months or more to complete.   In total, HUD allocated $4,383,085,000 in CDBG-MIT funds to Texas. Altogether, 140 Texas counties are eligible for some part of this allocation of funding for 2015, 2016, and 2017 (Hurricane Harvey) disasters. Here is the breakdown of funding as directed by HUD:

• Texas General Land Office will administer $4,297,189,000:
  • $4,074,456,000 for Hurricane Harvey
  • $169,748,000 for 2016 Floods
  • $52,985,000 for 2015 Floods
• HUD direct allocations:
  • $61,884,000 to City of Houston for 2015 Floods
  • $24,012,000 to City of San Marcos for 2015 Floods