New CDBG-DR Notice Published

HUD has published the Allocations for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and Implementation of the CDBG-DR Consolidated Waivers and Alternative Requirements Notice.

In November 2023, HUD allocated $142 million in CDBG-DR funds appropriated by the Disaster Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2023 for major disasters occurring in 2022 and 2023.

This Allocation Announcement Notice (AAN) identifies grant requirements for these funds, including requirements in HUD’s CDBG-DR Consolidated Notice (“Consolidated Notice”) found in Appendix B, and a limited number of amendments to the Consolidated Notice that apply to CDBG-DR grants for disasters occurring in 2022 and 2023.

The Consolidated Notice, as amended by this AAN, includes:

• Waivers and alternative requirements
• Relevant regulatory requirements
• Grant award process
• Criteria for action plan approval
• Eligible disaster recovery activities

Please note that grantees who have been allocated funds for disasters occurring in 2022 and 2023 must follow the Duplication of Benefits (DOB) requirements located in section IV.A. of this notice and IV.A. of the Consolidated Notice.

Please read the entire notice for more information.

Please visit HUD’s Website for CDBG-DR, and CDBG Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) resources, tools, and training. Also search the Disaster Recovery Tools and Templates Library for additional information.

New Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Emergency Declarations

Please review the disaster declaration for the availability of individual assistance.

• California Hurricane Hilary (DR-4750-CA), Incident Period: August 19, 2023 – August 21, 2023, Major Disaster Declaration declared on November 21, 2023
• Illinois Il Excessive Rainfall (DR-4749-IL), Incident Period: September 17, 2023 – September 18, 2023, Major Disaster Declaration declared on November 20, 2023
• Virgin Islands Elevated Levels of Lead and Copper in the Water Supply (EM-3603-VI), Incident Period: October 25, 2023, and continuing, Emergency Declaration declared on November 18, 2023

FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP)

• March 09-16, 2024: Tribal Nations Training Week: FEMA helps Tribal Nations improve readiness and resilience to natural disasters with comprehensive emergency management training opportunities. The annual Tribal Nations Training Week offers emergency certifications, training and networking opportunities, all fully funded for Tribal leaders, Tribal first responders, Tribal healthcare providers, Tribal grant specialists and any designated Tribal Nation staff. Please email David.Hall@fema.dhs.gov to learn more. Register today to reserve your place.

FEMA National Preparedness Report Released: FEMA released the 2023 National Preparedness Report, highlighting the state of the nation’s preparedness at all levels of government while examining the risks the nation faces and the capabilities available to address them.

More Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Training Materials

Please visit HUD’s website for emergency and disaster preparedness group education materials. These are available to HUD certified housing counselors to customize as part of their group education for HUD clients.

• December 13, 2023: FEMA Webinar: Focus on Disaster Resources from Other Federal Agencies
• Housing Counseling Disaster Field Guide
• May 11, 2023: Archived Training: Coordinating Disaster Response with HUD’s Office of Housing Counseling
• April 20, 2023: Archived Training: Partner with Emergency Management Officials to Prepare for Disasters
• Loan Products for Single Family Properties Affected by Natural Disasters
• Archived Training: Effective Tools to Helping Clients Cope with Crisis
• Dealing With Angry People
• Archived Training: Disaster Recovery Through an Equity Lens: This webinar provided a framework for thinking about equity in the disaster preparedness context and provided advice for promoting equity in the provision of disaster recovery housing counseling services
• Archived Training: Delivering Group Education on Emergency and Disaster Preparedness: This webinar prepares HCAs for the delivery of Emergency and Disaster Preparedness group education sessions.
• Archived Training: How to Support Disaster Housing Counseling Clients: This webinar provides an overview to housing counselors on actionable next steps to support their communities post disaster
• Archived Training: Flood Insurance with FEMA: This webinar is designed to help housing counselors help their clients navigate FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The webinar covers insurance basics, how the NFIP works, and how to process claims.
• National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Insurance Agent Training Course
• Archived Training: Disaster Preparedness and Recovery Toolkit Demonstration: This webinar teaches participants how housing counseling agencies (HCAs) can play a meaningful role in disaster preparedness and recovery and provides a demonstration of the new online toolkit.

A new report from the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank focuses on the 13 counties declared federal disaster areas and examines the flood’s impact on the region’s housing.

Key findings

• Cost of flood insurance can be prohibitive. The average cost of homeowners insurance and a flood insurance policy could account for around 7 percent of the median household income in the counties impacted by the 2022 eastern Kentucky flood. These policies can be expensive, particularly for low-income households, leading them to go without. Evidence of these difficult decisions can be found in the fact that only 5 percent of damaged homes had flood insurance, and households earning $30,000 or less per year accounted for 60 percent of damaged homes.
• Floods exacerbate affordable housing shortages. Nearly 9,000 housing units were affected by the flood, with 74 percent of the damage occurring in just four counties (Breathitt, Knott, Letcher, and Perry), comprising 22 percent of their occupied housing units. Research finds that low-income households and renters are more likely to suffer permanent displacement because they often have fewer relocation options and lower-quality housing is more likely to be demolished instead of being rebuilt. These points are particularly relevant in these 13 flood-impacted counties where, in 2021, 37 percent of households, including 55 percent of renters, made less than $25,000 per year.
• Floods increase population out-migration, which, in turn, impacts the local labor force. In the four hardest hit counties (Breathitt, Knott, Letcher, and Perry), an analysis of United States Postal Service (USPS) Vacancy Data shows that residential vacancies increased by 19 percent from the third to the fourth quarter in 2022. This is in addition to an average population decline of 600 people per year going back to 1984. Fewer residents mean fewer people available to fill jobs.
• The pre-existing weakness of local labor markets will likely impact housing recovery, particularly due to a lack of available workforce in skilled trades. Prior to the July 2022 flood, the region experienced unemployment rates consistently higher than the national rate. In the region, the construction sector, key to the housing recovery, has declined by 24 percent (1,759 jobs) from its 2001 peak to 2022. Only coal mining and financial activities employment saw greater declines. This shortage of skilled trades workers, such as carpenters, electricians, and plumbers, has led to a backlog of people waiting to get their homes repaired or replaced.

For more information and to read the report, visit Resilience and Recovery: Insights from the July 2022 Eastern Kentucky Flood.

The notice regarding the Single Family Housing Section 504 Home Repair Loans and Grants in Presidentially Declared Disaster Areas Pilot Program, which was published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, July 18, 2023, and shared via a GovDelivery message on the same day, has been corrected. The corrected notice was published in the Federal Register today (September 6, 2023) and expands the pilot to any presidentially declared disaster areas that occurred on or after July 18, 2022 (i.e., is not limited to the pilot states outlined in the original notice), until the conclusion of the pilot on July 18, 2025.