The Texas General Land Office has approved $9,500,000 in disaster recovery funds for a wastewater collection system improvement project in the city of Prairie View, Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., announced in an Aug. 26 news release.
The money comes through the state’s Disaster Recovery Reallocation Program, or DRRP, which the GLO said is designed to put de-obligated and unutilized Community Development Block Grant for Disaster Recovery dollars back to work in communities that still carry unmet needs from federally declared disasters. According to the agency, the funds are allocated through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and must adhere to federal deadlines and policy requirements.
“With this significant investment in Prairie View, the GLO continues its mission to help Texas communities rebuild stronger and more resilient after disasters,” Commissioner Buckingham said. “The $9.5 million grant for wastewater collection system improvements will benefit the residents of Prairie View for decades. Our focus remains on using vital disaster recovery resources to help improve the lives of Texans now and far into the future.”
The GLO administers the CDBG-DR funds allocated by HUD, which has set deadlines for the expenditure and close out of the grants, the agency said. The GLO amended, and HUD approved, state action plans covering six disaster grants: Hurricanes Ike and Dolly in 2008, the 2015 floods, the 2016 floods, Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the 2018 South Texas floods and the 2019 disasters. Each of those plans now includes the reallocation program.
Demand has far outstripped the money on hand. Combined, the six programs initially yielded approximately $140 million in available funds, while the GLO received more than $1.4 billion in project submissions, according to the release. The agency said each approved project underwent an eligibility analysis based on the grant used to fund it, and that remaining dollars will be reallocated to the program for each grant as they are identified through the deobligation process.
Timing remains a central constraint. State officials noted that failure to complete projects and finalize HUD’s closeout process would prompt HUD to initiate the recapture process, meaning any funds used toward incomplete projects must be repaid. For that reason, the GLO said, it can only consider projects that can be completed in enough time to allow for close out.
The agency directed communities seeking more detailed project descriptions to the DRRP webpage, and said the action plans outlining the scoring criteria are available through its disaster recovery site.