HUD APPROVES DISASTER RECOVERY PLANS IN NORTH DAKOTA
Report cautions that as LIHTC housing ages, more than a million units might be lost by 2020

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development today announced the approval of two disaster recovery plans in North Dakota totaling $79.3 million in emergency aid to help several communities including the City of Minot to recover from last year’s devastating floods.  With the acceptance of these disaster plans, the real work of long-term disaster recovery throughout the State can now begin. 

Provided through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program, these grants will support long-term disaster recovery efforts in local communities devastated by last year’s disasters.

“Now that these plans are in place, it’s time to get down to the real business of rebuilding the housing and infrastructure damaged by last year’s flooding,” said Rick M. Garcia., HUD’s Regional Administrator.  “The State and the City of Minot can now begin to implement these plans to make their neighborhoods whole again.”

On November 18, 2011, Congress appropriated $300 million in CDBG funds to support long-term disaster recovery in the most impacted and distressed areas resulting from a major disaster in 2011 (Public Law 112-55). Concurrently, Congress gave HUD the authority to allocate up to an additional $100 million for the recovery efforts. Secretary Shaun Donovan exercised HUD's full authority by targeting the maximum amount of CDBG funding allowed toward helping these most impacted state and local areas.

These funds are intended to confront unmet housing, business and infrastructure needs beyond those addressed by other forms of public and private assistance.  Using a combination of federal data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Small Business Administration (SBA), HUD identified those states and local communities most impacted and requiring the greatest assistance to recover due to the devastating tornadoes in the Southeast and Missouri; the remnants of Hurricanes Irene and Lee in the Northeast and New England; severe flooding in parts of North Dakota; and destructive wildfires in Texas.  

Earlier this year, HUD allocated $11,782,684 to the State of North Dakota and $67,575,964 directly to the City of Minot which was especially hard hit by the flooding and had the greatest extent of unmet needs in the state.  For more information:

• Read the State of North Dakota’s disaster recovery plan.
• Read the City of Minot’s disaster recovery plan.