New Disaster Recovery Funding Option to be Available

Last week, during the University of California at Irvine commencement address, President Obama unveiled the availability of a new a competitive disaster resilience funding program.  The $1 billion program is designed to help support communities that have already experienced severe weather; support “innovative” local resilience projects; and encourage communities to make policy changes that account for extreme weather and climate change impacts.
According to news reports, the funding is to be made available as part of the Hurricane Sandy relief initiative; thus, does not require new Congressional approval.  Those states and local governments identified under a presidentially declared “major disaster” from 2011 through 2013 will be eligible for most of the competitive funding.  The funding is being managed through the Community Development Block Grants program under the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  As of this writing, details on how to apply are not yet posted on the HUD-CDBG website.  As it becomes available, you should be able to find it by entering CDBG Disaster Relief in the HUD website at http://portal.hud.gov/