AUSTIN — Today Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., announced the Texas General Land Office (GLO) will celebrate National Community Development Week April 10-14, 2023, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to highlight improvements made in communities using Community Development Block Grants for Disaster Recovery and Mitigation.

“We often like to say that we are the agency that rolls up our sleeves and gets to work for the people of Texas, and when it comes to disaster recovery, the GLO is the place to go,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “My goal is simple - that we serve the people we are supposed to serve and do it well. We are proud to be working together with local leaders to ensure that federal funds are used to benefit those who need them most.”

The GLO is setting a record pace administering both Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds from HUD on behalf of the state of Texas. More than $14 billion have been allocated for recovery and mitigation following Hurricanes Rita, Dolly, and Ike, the 2011 wildfires, the 2015 and 2016 floods, Hurricane Harvey, the 2018 South Texas floods, and the 2019 disasters. These grants can be used for a wide variety of activities including housing repairs, infrastructure repair and long-term planning, depending on HUD guidance. 

Because of the fantastic team at the Texas General Land Office, since Hurricane Harvey alone, the GLO has rebuilt more than 10,000 homes for homeowners and renters in Texas combined, with nearly 7,000 of those being individual homes. The GLO also helped nearly 3,000 Texas families with reimbursement for $86 million in out-of-pocket repair expenses.

Each day of National Community Development Week, the GLO will share stories of individual and community disaster recovery on social media. Commissioner Buckingham encourages Texans and their communities to follow along on the GLO’s Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram using #CDBGWorks.

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