Hurricane Harvey Funding Dashboard

Community Development Needs

Disaster recovery programs funded by HUD aim to benefit vulnerable people, often of low to moderate income, to improve an array of community development needs in the aftermath of a disaster.

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery

How does this program work?
It takes time for funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program to make its way down to the local level. After Congress appropriates funds, HUD has to allocate funding to local governments via state governments. As the grantee, local governments must design recovery programs that are again approved by HUD in local action plans.
What is happening locally with these funds?
Shown here are the federal dollars that have been allocated through the State of Texas General Land Office (GLO) to both the City of Houston and Harris County. Funding is being spent on recovery programs to meet unmet needs after Harvey. The City of Houston and Harris County are implementing recovery programs at different paces, which may take a few months for some programs and several years for others.

Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery – City of Houston

Within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program (HUD CDBG-DR), the Texas General Land Office allocated funding to 10 city programs. This chart shows the federal amount allocated and spent for the city’s recovery programs. Hurricane Harvey damaged thousands of homes in the city, including affordable single-family homes and multifamily apartments. Recovery programs in the city are largely directed toward housing recovery. Economic revitalization for small businesses is another priority in the city.

Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery – Harris County

Within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program (HUD CDBG-DR), the Texas General Land Office allocated funding to 11 county programs. This chart shows the federal amount allocated and spent for the county’s recovery programs, which are primarily focused on housing. Harris County estimates that more than 154,000 homes were flooded during Harvey.

HUD CDBG-DR Grant Allocation Timeline for Hurricane Harvey Recovery in Harris County and The City of Houston

  1. Hurricane Harvey is
    declared a presidential
    disaster
  2. HUD approved direct allocations to the City of Houston and Harris County out of a $5.02 billion allocation to the State of Texas (Action Plan Amendment #1)
  4. HUD approved a federal allocation of $652 million to Harris County, the City of Houston, and state-run programs for unmet needs (Action Plan Amendment #2)
  5. HUD approved a federal allocation of $1.23 billion to Harris County and $1.28 billion to the City of Houston out of a total of $5.68 billion to the State of Texas (Action Plan Amendment #3)
  7. At the beginning of Q2 2021, the Texas GLO suballocated approximately $890 million to Harris County (Action Plan Amendment #7) and $650 million to the City of Houston (COH Extension Period Budget)

Total City of Houston Reimbursements of Allocated Funds

Starting in Q4 2018, HUD CDBG-DR funding was allocated to the City of Houston through the Texas General Land Office (GLO) for the purpose of Hurricane Harvey recovery. Reimbursements began in Q1 2020. In Q4 2020, all allocated funds that remained were reduced by the GLO, since, at that time, the GLO claimed that there were multiple delays in grant administration. The GLO briefly administered several of the city’s housing programs. Beginning in Q2 2021, funding was reallocated back to the City of Houston.

Total Harris County Reimbursements of Allocated Funds

This chart shows that Harris County began submitting reimbursements for allocated funds to the State of Texas General Land Office (GLO) in Q2 2019, nearly two years after Hurricane Harvey was declared a major disaster. The data may have a time lag due to the amount of time it takes for projects to be received by the GLO and then approved for reimbursement.

The data shows CDBG-DR reimbursement activity as a measure of spending from the end of 2018 through mid-2021. The data largely covers a time period in the city and county during which early program design requirements were being drafted and implemented. For example, the city was not authorized by the state to begin spending its funds until January 2019, meaning that the state may have been slow to reimburse some costs during the initial stages of the program. Also, as a reimbursement program, the CDBG-DR program allows the city and county to pay for expenses in advance and then request reimbursements from the GLO.

CDBG-DR Program: A Few Key Stakeholder Responsibilities

State of Texas General Land Office
  • Administers CDBG-DR grant
  • Approves CDBG-DR reimbursements for eligibility within 14 business days of receipt
  • Initiates a request for information process, if necessary
  • Reimburses local jurisdictions for CDBG-DR expenditures, which could take up to several months
Local Jurisdictions
  • Spends its own funds for many CDBG-DR program costs
  • Helps homeowners to submit applications for the home repair program, which requires about 80 pages of paperwork
  • Submits expenditures to GLO for reimbursement within 90 days