Today Commissioner George P. Bush announced the Texas General Land Office (GLO) posted six requests for proposals (RFPs) for construction services for the State of Texas CDBG Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) Resilient Home Program. This innovative program will reconstruct owner-occupied single-family homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey with additional resiliency standards.

"As populations of Texans grow denser in counties near our state's coast, it has become increasingly important to not only build stronger, but more resilient to damaging storms," said Commissioner George P. Bush. "The GLO is committed to not only helping storm-damaged communities recover, but to rebuild stronger and more resilient to flood and wind damage."

AUSTIN — The Resilient Housing Program (RHP) will replace owner-occupied single-family homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey with reconstructed homes that meet additional resiliency and mitigation standards. Eligible participants will be drawn from the GLO's existing waitlisted eligible Homeowner Assistance Program (HAP) applicants. In addition to providing housing for those whose homes were seriously damaged during Hurricane Harvey, this program will serve as a showcase for more resilient residential construction practices and provide the opportunity to promote these practices throughout the residential construction industry on a scale larger than previously attempted.

The Resilient Home Program is seeking construction services for:

This program will be funded using CDBG-MIT funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Qualified RHP vendors must prove they can provide reconstruction services in accordance with applicable state, local, and/or regional housing guidelines in addition to federally mandated rules and regulations from HUD. Respondent must provide a detailed narrative in its Solicitation Response, demonstrating the experience and ability to perform all requested services described in the respective RFPs. Each respondent must also specify if it intends to provide these services in house, with existing staff, or through subcontracting or partnership arrangements.

Background of Homeowner Assistance Program

The GLO allocated $1.334 billion in Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding from HUD for rehabilitation and reconstruction of thousands of owner-occupied single-family homes in 48 counties that were damaged by Hurricane Harvey. Homeowners located within the city of Houston and Harris County are being served under housing programs funded by direct allocations. Individuals affected by Hurricane Harvey could qualify for assistance through the Texas Homeowner Assistance Program if they owned their home, it was damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Harvey and it was their primary residence at the time of the storm, among other eligibility factors. The program is providing assistance to repair, rehabilitate or rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Harvey to qualified homeowners. Applications are being processed for eligibility, according to the priorities outlined in the Regional Housing Guidelines, in the order of the application submission date.

Currently, the number of HAP applications for assistance exceeds the available program funds needed to move forward with reconstruction of damaged homes. Consequently, HAP applicants eligible for assistance are waitlisted until further funding becomes available. To remedy HAP fund deficiencies so that waitlisted homeowners may continue in the state's recovery process, additional CDBG-MIT funding was allocated through both the HAP Supplemental Program and the RHP. These programs also include mitigation measures such as home elevation.