News Release

HHS Awards $550 Million in Hurricane Relief

States to Receive Social Services Block Grant Aid

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced $550 million in funding to the 50 states and the District of Columbia for additional hurricane relief.

The funds will come from the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) program, administered by HHS’ Administration for Children and Families (ACF). They will be given to states to provide health care, mental health and social services, as well as for the repair, renovation and construction of facilities providing those services to victims of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

“The hurricane relief the Bush Administration is announcing today continues our commitment to helping the families affected by devastating storms over the last several months,” Secretary Leavitt said. “The road to recovery is a long one for those whose lives have been disrupted, and these funds will provide further assistance to help these families and individuals get back on their feet.”

The numbers used for the SSBG allocation calculations are drawn from FEMA’s Registrant Application Current Location by State report. Registrant data was included for all three of these Gulf hurricanes and includes evacuees and affected individuals, by household, who did not evacuate. Households that registered in one state, but have since moved to another, are counted under their most recent location. In recognition of the severity of Katrina, registrants from that hurricane are double-weighted.

“With these grants, President Bush is following through on his promise of ensuring ‘no state will be unfairly disadvantaged’ for providing aid and services to those in need,” said HHS Assistant Secretary for Children and Families Wade F. Horn, Ph.D.

A list of each block grant can be viewed at: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/press/2006/SSBG_funds.htm

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Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.

Last revised: January 12, 2009