Hays County, San Marcos To Receive Disaster Mitigation Grant Funding From HUD

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued program requirements on August 27 for $4.3 billion in mitigation funds for post-Hurricane Harvey and other flood recovery projects in Texas.

Of that amount, $2.11 billion must finance mitigation activities in areas that HUD has identified as “most impacted and distressed,” which are the counties of Aransas, Brazoria, Chambers, Fayette, Fort Bend, Galveston, Hardin, Harris, Hays, Hidalgo, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgomery, Newton, Nueces, Orange, Refugio, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Travis, Victoria, and Wharton. Also included are the ZIP codes of 75979, 77320, 77335, 77351, 77414, 77423, 77482, 77493, 77979, 78934, 78945, 77612, 75956, 77632, and 78377.

The state of Texas will receive an additional $169.75 million for major 2016 floods, and the cities of Houston and San Marcos will get $61.88 million and $24.01 million in HUD assistance, respectively, for significant 2015 flooding recovery.

Mitigation activities are defined as those that increase resilience to disasters and reduce or eliminate the long-term risk of loss of life, injury, damage to and loss of property.

The funding is part of $6.88 billion in disaster relief allocated to Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) for qualifying 2015, 2016, and 2017 disasters in nine states, including Texas.

In addition to the mitigation funding, HUD recently announced $5.6 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grants to assist local and state programs associated with homeowner reimbursement, homeowner assistance, and multi-family affordable rental properties.

Source: Strategic Partnerships Inc.