By Writers Pool published 9-20-2019 updated 1-2-2020
The Watershed Citizens Watchdog Group introduces the newest federal grant program offered by the DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT (HUD).
HUD using it's Community Development Block Grant Mitigation Program (CDBG-MIT) has allocated $6,875,044.000 (billion) in Community Development Block Grant Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) funds to state governors (Grantees) recovering from disasters declared and qualifying disasters for the years of 2015, 2016, and 2017.
Docket: FR-6109-N-02J
Public Law: 115-123, approved February 9, 2018
Building Resilient and Infrastructure Communities (BRIC)
Address mitigation in the most impacted and distressed (MID) areas.
The Appropriations Act provides CDBG-MIT funds as a supplemental appropriation to the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Accordingly, the alignment of CDBG-MIT funds with other federal mitigation programs must also occur within the basic CDBG framework.
The national objectives of the CDBG program are:
a) providing benefit to low- and moderate-income persons
b) preventing or eliminating slum and blighting conditions or
c) addressing a severe and recently arising urgent community welfare or health need.
Unlike other forms of Federal disaster recovery assistance, CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT grants have a statutory focus on benefiting vulnerable lower-income people and communities and targeting the most impacted and distressed areas.
HUD recognizes that this first-time appropriation of mitigation-only CDBG funds may pose challenges to grantees in aligning their mitigation strategies and activities with their obligation to use most of their CDBG-MIT funds to benefit low- and moderate-income persons and to use the funds in the MID areas resulting from a disaster. Accordingly, this notice provides grantees with flexibility on the percentages related to a CDBG-MIT grant's overall benefit requirement and MID expenditure requirement. As with CDBG-DR, HUD encourages CDBG-MIT grantees to consider a wide range of community development objectives related to recovery and economic resilience. This notice provides a waiver and establishes an alternative requirement to include new urgent need national objective criteria that are applicable to CDBG MIT funds only, as described in section V.A.13. of this notice. This urgent need mitigation (UNM) national objective requires activities funded with the CDBG-MIT grant to result in measurable and verifiable reductions in the risk of loss of life and property from future disasters and yield community development benefits.
The amount of CDBG-MIT funding grantees must expend to mitigate risks within the HUD-identified MID areas is listed in Table 1.
| Disaster No. | State | Grantee | CDBG-MIT Allocation | Minimum amount that must be expended to the HUD-Identified "Most Impacted and Distressed" areas listed herein. |
HUD-Identified "most impacted and distressed" areas |
| 4344 4353 | California | State of California | $88,219,000 | $44,109,500 | Sonoma and Ventura counties: 93108. 91558. 95422, 95470, and 95901 Zip Codes |
| 4280 4283 4337 4341 | Florida | State of Florida | $633,485,000 | $316,742,500 | Brevard, Broward, Clay, Collier, Duvak Hilisborough, Lee, Miani Dade, Monroe, Orange. Osceola. Palm Beach, Polk. St. Johns, St. Lucie, and Volusia counties 32084, 32091, 32136, 32145, 32771, 33440. 33523, 33825, 33870, 32068, 33935, and 34266 Zip Codes |
| 4294 4297 4338 | Georgia | State of Georgia | $26,961,000 | $13,480,500 | 31520, 31548, and 31705 Zip Codes |
| 4263 4277 4272 | Louisiana | State of Louisiana | $1,213,917,000 | $606,958,500 | East Baton Rouge, Livingston, Ascension, Tangipahoa, Ouachita, Letavette, Vemilion, Acadia, Washington, and St. Taniniany Parishes |
| 4317 | Missouri | State of Missouri | $41,592,000 | $20,796,000 | 63935, 63965, 64850, 65616, and 65775 Zip Codes. |
| 4285 | North Carolina | State of North Carolina | $168,067,000 | $84,033,500 | Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Edgecombe, Robeson, and Wayne Counties. |
| 4241 4286 | South Carolina | State of South Carolina | $157,590,000 | $50,978,000 | Charleston, Clarendon, Dorchester, Florence, Georgetown, Hony, Marion, Sumter, and Williamsburg Counties. |
| 4241 | Columbia | $18,585,000 | $18,585,000 | Columbia. | |
| 4241 | Lexington County (Urban County) | $15,185,000 | $15,185,000 | Lexington County Urban County Jurisdictions | |
| 4241 | Richland County ( Urban County) | $21,864,000 | $21,864,000 | Richiand County Urban County Jurisdictions | |
| 4223: 4245 4266 4269 4272 4332 | Texas | State of Texas | $4,297,189,000 | $2,105,646,500 | Aransas, Brazoria. Chambers, Fayette. Fort Bend, Galveston, 4272: 4332 Hardin. Harris. Hays, Hidalgo, Jasper, Jefferson, Liberty, Montgonety, Newton, Nueces, Orange. Refiigio, San Jacinto, San Patricio, Travis, Victoria, and Wharton counties 75979, 77320, 77335, 77351, 77414, 77423, 77482, 77493. 77979, 78934, 78945, 77612, 75956, 77632, and 78377 Zip Codes. |
| 4223 4245 | Houston | $61,884,000 | $61,884,000 | Houston. | |
| 4223 4245 | San Marcos | $24,012,000 | $24,012,000 | San Marcos. | |
| 4273 | West Virginia | State of West Virginia | $53,247,000 | $53,247,000 | Greenbrier, Clay, Kanawha and Nicholas Counties. |
| Total* | $6,875,044.000 |
* The remaining $9,059,472,000 will be allocated at a later date.
Notes:
CONTACT HUD:
Jessie Handforth Kome, Acting Director, Office of Block Grant Assistance, Community Planning and Development, Department of Housing and Urban Development, 451 7th Street, SW, Room 7282, Washington, DC 20410, telephone number 202-402-3587. Persons with hearing or speech impairments may access this number via TTY by calling the Federal Relay Service at 800-877-8339. Facsimile inquiries may be sent to Ms. Kome at 202-708-0033. (Except for the&rsquo800&rsquo number, these telephone numbers are not toll-free). Email inquiries may be sent to disaster_recovery@hud.gov.
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