Funding to support recovery in Louisiana, West Virginia, Texas, Carolinas and Florida
WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson today announced an additional $163 million to help several state and local communities to recovery from severe flooding that occurred in 2015 and 2016. The grants announced today are provided through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program. Combined with CDBG-DR grants already allocated, HUD’s investment to these areas totals nearly $3 billion.
CDBG-Disaster Recovery grants can support a wide variety of activities including housing redevelopment, business assistance and infrastructure repair. State and local governments in Louisiana, West Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida will target these grants in “the most impacted” areas. HUD’s allocations are based on the unmet costs to repair seriously damaged properties and infrastructure in the counties determined by HUD to be most impacted.
“Today, HUD makes another investment to support long-term disaster recovery in communities that continue to experience significant and persistent need,” said Secretary Carson. “Supporting the people and places still struggling to rebuild is a top priority at HUD.”
HUD is allocating the following disaster recovery funds:
| Grantee | Allocation | Minimum amount that must be expended for recovery in the HUD-identified “most impacted and distressed” areas | Combined amount allocated from current and prior appropriations |
| 2016 Disasters | |||
| State of Louisiana | $51,435,000 | ($41,148,000) East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Ascension, Tangipahoa, Ouachita, Lafayette, Vermilion, Acadia, Washington, and St. Tammany Parishes | $1,708,407,000 |
| State of West Virginia | $3,212,000 | ($2,569,600) Kanawha, Greenbrier, Clay and Nicholas Counties | $107,492,000 |
| State of Texas | $6,846,000 | ($5,476,800) Harris, Newton, Montgomery, Fort Bend, and Brazoria Counties | $229,110,000 |
| State of North Carolina | $6,114,000 | ($4,891,200) Robeson, Cumberland, Edgecombe, and Wayne Counties | $204,667,000 |
| State of South Carolina | $2,012,000 | ($1,609,600) Marion County | $67,317,000 |
| State of Florida | $1,805,000 | ($1,444,000) St. Johns County | $60,407,000 |
| 2015 Disasters | |||
| Lexington County, SC | $5,038,000 | ($5,038,000) Lexington County Urban County Jurisdiction | $21,370,000 |
| Columbia, SC | $6,166,000 | ($6,166,000) Columbia | $26,155,000 |
| Richland County, SC | $7,254,000 | ($7,254,000) Richland County Urban County Jurisdiction | $30,770,000 |
| State of South Carolina | $29,871,000 | ($20,205,200) Charleston, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, and Clarendon Counties | $126,698,000 |
| Houston, TX | $20,532,000 | ($20,532,000) Houston | $87,092,000 |
| San Marcos, TX | $7,736,000 | ($7,736,000) San Marcos | $32,816,000 |
| State of Texas | $15,639,000 | ($6,857,600) Harris, Hays, Hidalgo, and Travis Counties | $66,335,000 |
| $163,660,000 | $2,768,636,000 | ||
Background
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 ($236.3 million) at a future date to areas that experience disasters meeting the ‘most impacted’ threshold HUD announced last January. Read HUD’s January 18, 2017 notice.
This $400 million is in addition to a total of $2.6 billion in CDBG-DR funding previously appropriated to assist in recovery from major disasters in 2015 and 2016. Read HUD’s news release for details of these prior allocations.
To determine these disaster recovery allocations, HUD analyzes the most currently available data of the unmet costs to repair seriously damaged properties and infrastructure in the most-impacted counties. HUD will shortly publish a notice in the Federal Register which will define the criteria for the use of these funds.