Federal Register Notice For CDBG-DR Grant Issued

The City of San Marcos is one-step closer to putting $25 million in U.S Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds to work to assist with flood related recovery in the community.

HUD published a Federal Register Notice June 9 that outlines the federal laws and regulations that will apply to the use of the City’s allocated disaster recovery grant funds.

The funds were allocated to the City of San Marcos to assist with remaining unmet housing needs, economic development, and infrastructure needs and community resiliency challenges that resulted from more than 1,000 homes and small businesses being damaged or destroyed in the Memorial Day Weekend Food and All Saints Flood in 2015.

HUD’s staff will meet with City of San Marcos staff and the City’s Disaster Recovery contractor AECOM on June 20 and June 21 for technical assistance and training to support the City with meeting the goals and requirements of the grant program outlined in the federal register.

The City will have 90 days after the effective date of the Federal Register, which is five days after publishing, to submit an Action Plan to HUD. One of the first steps will be completing an Unmet Needs Assessment. The City’s disaster recovery team has recently established an Unmet Needs Task Force. The task force will meet with city staff and AECOM on June 22 at 11:30 a.m. at the San Marcos Activity Center.

“This task force of impacted citizens, community leaders and human service organizations will help the City identify, and articulate to HUD, the needs of our community,” said Assistant City Manager Collette Jamison. “Their work will create the foundation for the Action Plan to implementing the grant and ultimately restore and create a more resilient San Marcos.”

The City is also working to ensure the entire community is engaged and informed about the disaster recovery process. A City of San Marcos disaster recovery website, http://www.smtxfloodrecovery.com, has been created exclusively for City of San Marcos Disaster Recovery Grant information.  A direct link to the Federal Register is available on the site at http://www.smtxfloodrecovery.com/federalregister