Gov. Abbott Taps Commissioner George P. Bush To Lead Historic $4 Billion Comprehensive Mitigation Plan

AUSTIN – Governor Greg Abbott today announced Commissioner George P. Bush and the Texas General Land Office will lead a historic, comprehensive resiliency and disaster mitigation program, funded by more than $4 billion in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant for Mitigation (CDBG-MIT).

The comprehensive program will prioritize large-scale, regional projects that increase the state’s resilience to disasters statewide, protect lives and mitigate against future hurricanes and other natural disasters.

“The state of Texas is committed to making our communities more resilient to natural disasters,” said Governor Abbott. “Today we are pushing forward with the single-largest mitigation program our state has ever seen. Commissioner Bush and I are committed to working together in partnership with HUD and the Texas Division of Emergency Management to maximize the impact of this funding.”

“Today is a historic day for our state,” said Commissioner Bush. “Texas’ top disaster preparedness and recovery leaders are focused on accomplishing broad, wide-ranging projects that will benefit the most Texans. I am committed to maximizing this historic funding by prioritizing regional partnerships to protect Texans from future storms.”

In accordance with HUD requirements, the funds will be focused on reducing “long-term risk of loss of life, injury, damage to and loss of property, and suffering and hardship, by lessening the impact of future disasters.” The funds were appropriated by Congress on February 9, 2018, for mitigation projects in the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey as well as 2015 and 2016 Floods. Since 2015, 183 Texas counties have received a Presidential disaster declaration.

Information on CDBG-MIT

On August 23, 2019, HUD released mandatory rules for the use of more than $4.3 billion in funding for mitigation projects, which were appropriated by Congress on February 9, 2018.

Publication of rules in the Federal Register was necessary for the GLO to begin drafting a state action plan, before sending it to HUD for approval. This process has already begun and is expected to take approximately nine months or more to complete. 

In total, HUD allocated $4,383,085,000 in CDBG-MIT funds to Texas. Altogether, 140 Texas counties are eligible for some part of this allocation of funding for 2015, 2016, and 2017 (Hurricane Harvey) disasters.

Funding allocations as directed by HUD:

• Texas General Land Office will administer $4,297,189,000:
  • $4,074,456,000 for Hurricane Harvey
  • $169,748,000 for 2016 Floods
  • $52,985,000 for 2015 Floods

• HUD direct allocations:
  • $61,884,000 to City of Houston for 2015 Floods
  • $24,012,000 to City of San Marcos for 2015 Floods