AUSTIN — Today Commissioner George P. Bush announced the Texas General Land Office (GLO) is releasing a survey to gather input from local officials, councils of government and river authorities for its Disaster Recovery Planning Studies Survey for Mitigation Funding. The survey requests input on planning study topics local leaders would like to prioritize using federal mitigation funding to lessen the impact of future disasters. Through these studies, the GLO will be encouraging regional planning coordination in addition to specific local solutions to promote sound long-term recovery.

"Today the GLO is releasing the Disaster Recovery Planning Studies Survey for Mitigation Funding to gather input from our local leaders on planning study topics they would like to explore through Community Development Block Grant for Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funding," said Commissioner Bush. "The valuable input we receive from our local leaders will help guide future studies to most effectively encourage regional planning coordination in maximizing use of future federal funding."

The survey will compile a list of planning study topics for areas that received a presidential disaster declaration resulting from the 2015 Floods, the 2016 Floods, or Hurricane Harvey. The survey will be distributed to local officials, councils of government and river authorities to request input for planning topics to include:

• Drainage improvements
• Resilient housing solutions
• Economic development
• Infrastructure improvements

The survey will be open until June 30, 2020. To participate in the survey, please visit https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3D6S3B2.

Texas GLO Hurricane Harvey Recovery Funds:

Commissioner George P. Bush and the Texas General Land Office was appointed by Governor Greg Abbott to lead the historic Hurricane Harvey housing recovery efforts funded by $5.676 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

The GLO allocated $413 million of the allocation for infrastructure projects and $275 million for local buyout and acquisitions to protect communities affected by the storm. The GLO allocated the funds to regional Council of Governments’ (COGs) based on a HUD approved needs assessment. The locally-led COGs then conducted methods of distribution (MODs) for determining infrastructure and buyout and acquisition amounts for cities and counties within each jurisdiction. COG boards are comprised of officials from the impacted communities elected in part to prioritize funds allocated for recovery programs. The MOD process requires public engagement and the GLO reviewed each MOD for compliance with federal rules and requirements before approving each plan.

To review the approved MODs, please visit https://recovery.texas.gov/action-plans/hurricane-harvey/index.html.