HUD chart detailing disaster relief funds issued. Photo Credit: The U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today allocated over $2.3 billion to support the long-term disaster recovery process in hard-hit areas in fifteen states, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
In this latest release, the U.S. Virgin Islands is allocated $53.5 million, according to the HUD chart.
The allocation today is supported through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program and will address seriously damaged housing, businesses and infrastructure from disasters that occurred since 2017, HUD said. The CDBG-DR Program requires grantees to develop thoughtful recovery plans informed by local residents.
“Today, we take another important step to ensure those hardest-hit by recent disasters can fully recover,” said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. “The grants awarded today will help these local communities continue the recovery process of rebuilding their homes, restoring their businesses and repairing their critical infrastructure.”
CDBG-DR grants support a variety of disaster recovery activities including housing redevelopment and rebuilding, business assistance, economic revitalization, and infrastructure repair. Grantees are required to spend the majority of these recovery funds in “most impacted” areas as identified by HUD. HUD said it will issue administrative guidelines shortly for use of the funds to address grantees’ long-term recovery needs, particularly in the area of housing recovery.
On October 5, 2018, President Donald Trump signed Public Law 115-254, which provides $1.68 billion in CDBG-DR funding for “disaster relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, and economic revitalization in the most impacted and distressed areas resulting from a major disaster declared in 2018.”
HUD allocated all but $205 million of those funds in an announcement on May 14, 2019. This announcement allocates that $205 million between the American Samoa and Northern Marianas as well as providing additional funding for those communities and the other disasters of 2018 through Public Law 116-20.
On June 6, 2019, Mr. Trump signed Public Law 116-20, which provides $2.431 billion, including $431 million to address additional unmet infrastructure needs for 2017 disasters and $2 billion “related to disaster relief, long-term recovery, restoration of infrastructure and housing, economic revitalization, and mitigation in the most impacted and distressed areas resulting from a major disaster that occurred in 2018 or 2019.”
HUD is announcing allocations for all but $272,072,000 of the funds appropriated under 116-20. After information on all disasters in calendar year 2019 have been taken into consideration, those remaining funds will be allocated.
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