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When major disasters happen, many individuals first reaction is to make sure everyone is safe, but once the dust settles, it’s time for the city itself to recover. That’s when the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2017 and Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery Program comes in.
Signed May 5 by President Trump, the Act gives $400 million to areas that are in need of recovery from major disasters such as earthquakes or flooding. Tuesday, HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced an additional $178.5 million provided through the grant program to help states recover from disasters from 2015 and 2016. So far, $343 million has been provided for disaster recovery, with the remaining $57 million to be allocated sometime in the future to areas that may experience disaster.
“Clearly, there are hard-hit communities in these states that need more help to recover from the devastating floods they experienced over the past two years,” said Secretary Carson. “Today, we make another investment in the future of these communities and to help our neighbors in need.”
These grants are allocated to Florida (57,530,000), West Virginia ($42,383,000), North Carolina ($31,862,000), South Carolina ($27,769,000), and Texas ($9,785,000) for 2016 and for 2015, Texas ($8,233,000) with a specific focus on San Marcos, Texas ($978,000) who experienced extreme flooding.
Through supplemental spending measures, Congress appropriated a combined $3 billion through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery Program. The largest amount of grant money has been given to Louisiana following 2016 flooding in Baton Rouge and the surrounding parishes, totaling $1.7 billion in recovery funds.
"Today, HUD makes another investment to support long-term disaster recovery in communities that continue to experience significant and persistent need," said Secretary Carson in the May allocation of grant funds. "Supporting the people and places still struggling to rebuild is a top priority at HUD."
