Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery Initiative

Congress and HUD awarded Florida $100.9 million for disaster relief, long-term
recovery, and mitigation directly related to the effects of last summer’s hurricanes.
The federal requirements say that funds must be directed to areas with greatest need.
Each state that received these supplemental funds ($150 million total) was required to
submit an Action Plan for Disaster Recovery to HUD that describes how the state
would use its allotted CDBG funds to meet the federal requirements. HUD’s public
notice said that it “may be compelled to consider disallowing expenditures if it finds
uses of funds are not disaster-related or are clearly not for the greatest needs.”

Pursuant to the guidelines in federal law and the specific requirements for the disaster
recovery funds, DCA held a public hearing on February 1 in conjunction with the
Hurricane Housing Work Group and accepted public comment for another two weeks
after that.

DCA considered the public comment, revised the draft plan that it published on
February 1, and prepared the Action Plan for HUD’s review. HUD expedited its
review of Florida’s plan and gave approval on March 4.

For regular CDBG funds that DCA administers each year, the Legislature gives DCA
block budget authority for the entire federal appropriation, to allocate those funds as it
determines appropriate and consistent with federal guidelines. DCA followed a
similar process for these one-time disaster recovery CDBG funds.

Federal law permits the CDBG funds to be used for housing, public assistance
(infrastructure), and business needs. At least 50 percent of these disaster recovery
funds must serve low and moderate income (LMI) households.

To fulfill the federal mandate that the funds be directed to the areas with the greatest
needs from last summer’s hurricanes, DCA scored counties with a formula that
measured housing loss, infrastructure loss, and job loss.

The housing loss scores were taken from the ranking methodology that the Hurricane
Housing Work Group developed.

The infrastructure loss scores considered both the absolute dollar value of
infrastructure damage as estimated by FEMA for that county and the per capita loss
for that county. DCA used both measures to balance the needs of large counties that
sustained a lot of damage against more rural counties that sustained
disproportionately more significant damage.

Likewise, job loss scores considered both the absolute dollar value of disaster
unemployment benefits paid and of per capita benefits paid.

The scores resulted in the following ranking (for the 25 most impacted counties) and
maximum awards to each county. (Note that DCA proposes to retain the federally
permitted 2% for administration and oversight and 1% for technical assistance and
training.)
County
Housing
Infrastructure
Business
Total Disaster
Impact Score
County Cap
Charlotte
0.97
0.96
0.99
2.92
$9,000,000.00
St. Lucie
0.83
0.78
0.60
2.20
$9,000,000.00
Indian River
0.66
0.72
0.71
2.08
$9,000,000.00
Escambia
1.00
0.46
0.58
2.04
$9,000,000.00
DeSoto
0.82
0.36
0.67
1.85
$9,000,000.00
Santa Rosa
0.80
0.39
0.45
1.64
$9,000,000.00
Hardee
0.59
0.54
0.48
1.61
$9,000,000.00
Brevard
0.51
0.28
0.27
1.06
$4,375,000.00
Martin
0.37
0.34
0.31
1.02
$4,375,000.00
Palm Beach
0.30
0.35
0.28
0.93
$4,375,000.00
Polk
0.49
0.22
0.16
0.87
$4,375,000.00
Orange
0.17
0.50
0.16
0.83
$4,375,000.00
Okeechobee
0.48
0.11
0.20
0.79
$4,375,000.00
Volusia
0.21
0.29
0.27
0.76
$4,375,000.00
Osceola
0.31
0.30
0.13
0.74
$4,375,000.00
Lee
0.18
0.21
0.30
0.69
Seminole
0.08
0.41
0.08
0.57
Highlands
0.23
0.08
0.12
0.43
Dixie
0.11
0.10
0.16
0.37
Calhoun
0.04
0.30
0.02
0.36
Levy
0.08
0.09
0.12
0.30
Putnam
0.13
0.07
0.05
0.25
Alachua
0.06
0.17
0.02
0.25
Glades
0.10
0.13
0.01
0.24
Okaloosa
0.11
0.03
0.09
0.24

Each local government in a county for which there is a county cap listed may submit
specific projects to DCA for approval, consistent with the CDBG guidelines. DCA
will then enter into contracts with the local governments to provide funding for
eligible disaster recovery projects.

These proposed maximum awards satisfy the federal government’s requirement that
the emergency CDBG funds be used for disaster relief, long-term recovery, and
mitigation in the areas with greatest need.

It is important that DCA receive the budget authority consistent with the action plan
that HUD approved so that local governments can prepare projects for approval and
can start the much needed recovery work as quickly as possible.