HUD Announces $51,435,000 in Additional Flood Relief for Louisiana

WASHINGTON—US 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, $51,435,000 of which is allocated to Louisiana. The grants announced today are provided through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program. This brings Lousiana’s combined amount allocated from current and prior appropriations to $1,708,407,000.

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 parishes determined by HUD to be most impacted.

“This is a part of last year’s omnibus,” said Dr. Cassidy. “This additional funding will continue our mission to get Louisiana families back in their homes.”

“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 Louisiana	$51,435,000		$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 West Virginia	$3,212,000		$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 Texas	$6,846,000		$229,110,000
State of North Carolina	$6,114,000	($4,891,200) Robeson, Cumberland, Edgecombe, and Wayne Counties	$204,667,000
State of North Carolina	$6,114,000		$204,667,000
State of South Carolina	$2,012,000	($1,609,600) Marion and Clarendon Counties	$67,317,000
State of Florida	$1,805,000	($1,444,000) St. Johns County	$60,407,000
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, and Georgetown 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 5^th, 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.

###