2018 Hurricane Harvey Disaster Recovery Funds Planning | Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC)

2018 Hurricane Harvey Disaster Recovery Funds Reallocation

Local Infrastructure Amendment for 2018 Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery Method of Distribution of Funds

On March 1, 2023, The Texas General Land Office approved the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) amendment to the 2018 Method of Distribution (MOD) for Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds for local infrastructure projects in the H-GAC region. The amendment reallocates $2,305,505 in declined and/or de-obligated funds. Funded projects must directly address infrastructure damage from Hurricane Harvey and at least 70% of the funds must be used for persons of low-and moderate-income.

Only entities located in Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Waller, Walker, or Wharton counties are eligible for funds. The Texas General Land Office did not include Harris County and the City of Houston in the original 2018 allocation and will not include either entity in this reallocation as they each received direct allocations for local infrastructure projects from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through the Texas General Land Office.

Download the Approved Reallocation Amendment Summary

Public Comment Period

H-GAC accepted verbal and written comments on the amendment until Thursday, December 15, 2022, at 5 p.m. Comments were accepted by:

Email
Phone Message
Postal Mail
Hand Delivery
Online Form
Public Hearing

Note: This Method of Distribution amendment was to reallocate declined or de-obligated funds specifically for local infrastructure projects directly related to Hurricane Harvey damage. This Method of Distribution is not for mitigation projects. More information about that MOD is available on the Community Development Block Grant Mitigation Funds page.

Public Planning Meeting

H-GAC hosted a public planning meeting at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, November 9, 2022, via Zoom to provide more information on a proposed reallocation amendment, answer any questions the public has regarding the proposed reallocation amendment, and accept feedback from the public.

Formal public comments were not accepted at the public planning meeting but could be submitted online, by email, by postal mail, or by phone as noted above.

Meeting Agenda
Meeting Presentation
Meeting Recording

Public Hearing

H-GAC hosted a public hearing at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, December 6, 2022, in person at H-GAC and online via Zoom to provide more information on a proposed reallocation amendment and accept public comment.

Meeting Agenda
Meeting Presentation
Meeting Recording

Meeting Accommodations

The public planning meeting and the public hearing were conducted in English, and an American Sign Language interpreter was provided or Closed Captioning was enabled for the online meeting. Spanish, Mandarin, and Vietnamese interpreters were also available throughout the meeting and the hearing.

Development of the Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grant - DR Method of Distribution of Funds

In 2018, H-GAC developed a state-approved Method of Distribution for approximately $241 million in federal Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery funds. However, local jurisdictions will apply for funding and manage the buyout/acquisition and infrastructure projects.

The Texas General Land Office allocated approximately $111 million of recovery funds to the H-GAC region outside of the City of Houston and Harris County for a local buyout/acquisition program and approximately $130 million for local infrastructure. The General Land Office required that H-GAC submit a Method of Distribution for the funding to the following counties in the H-GAC service area: Austin, Brazoria, Chambers, Colorado, Fort Bend, Galveston, Liberty, Matagorda, Montgomery, Waller, Walker, and Wharton.

The Method of Distribution included the amount of funding available to eligible jurisdictions (counties and cities) for Hurricane Harvey-related buyouts/acquisitions and infrastructure projects only. Harris County and the City of Houston were not included in this allocation and received funding directly from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urband Development through the Texas General Land Office.

Method of Distribution

As presented in the State of Texas Plan for Disaster Recovery: Hurricane Harvey - Round 1 dated June 25, 2018, and prepared by the Texas General Land Office Community Development & Revitalization Program, H-GAC was responsible for developing a Method of Distribution to allocate HUD CDBG-DR funds for housing buyouts/acquisitions and infrastructure for cities and counties within the H-GAC service area outside of the City of Houston and Harris County. Important aspects of the allocation process include a total of $110,953,432 for housing buyouts/acquisitions and $129,751,767 for infrastructure. The primary funding categories are further divided into two subsets:

funding for the area defined by HUD as most impacted; and,
the remainder of the impacted area

The Method of Distribution is available as a PDF and an Excel spreadsheet

Process for Developing the Method of Distribution

Council of Government (COG) Method of Distribution for 2017 Hurricane Harvey CDBG-Disaster Recovery

Public Comments

The Method of Distribution public comment period was open from June 21, 2018, to July 6, 2018, for the preliminary Method of Distribution and continued from August 30, 2018, to September 14, 2018, to obtain additional feedback on the 2017 Hurricane Harvey CDBG-Disaster Recovery Allocation Summary Form.

Council of Government (COG) Method of Distribution for 2017 Hurricane Harvey CDBG-Disaster Recovery

Public Participation Plan for COG Method of Distribution for Hurricane Harvey CDBG-Disaster Recovery

Summary of Public Comments (June 21, 2018-July 6, 2018)

Summary of Public Comments and Responses (August 30, 2018-September 14, 2018)

Final Method of Distribution Approval

The Texas General Land Office approved the Houston-Galveston Area Council's Method of Distribution for the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds reserved for communities affected by Hurricane Harvey on October 3, 2018.

Resources

Regional Flood Information system interactive mapping tool

This tool includes a variety of Harvey-related data, including HUD Low-Moderate Income Areas

Texas General Land Office Community Development and Revitalization Program

A presentation by the Texas General Land Office providing an overview of the program

H-GAC Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grant-DR Resource Guide

H-GAC developed a resource guide to aid local governments in developing their buyout/acquisition and infrastructure applications to the Texas General Land Office. Extensive input from residents and local governments during the development of the Method of Distribution informed the creation of this  resource guide.

This guide provides information and does not substitute for or supersede any guidance or applications requirements set by the Texas General Land Office or the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.