The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced a third round of grant funding to help states that are still recovering from Hurricane Sandy’s wrath in October 2012.

More than $2.5 billion in HUD’s Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds will assist impacted communities in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, New York City, and Rhode Island to meet remaining unmet housing, economic development, and infrastructure needs.

As part of the grants, HUD is awarding $930 million for recipients to implement winning proposals from its Rebuild by Design competition, which has produced design solutions for incorporating resilience into recovery and rebuilding. Read about the winning proposals at http://www.housingfinance.com/government-entities/hud-announces-rebuild-by-design-winning-proposals_o.aspx?dfpzone=home.

“HUD has worked very closely with officials in the region impacted by Hurricane Sandy to ensure that this funding meets all of their critical housing needs,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, who also chaired the president’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force. “We will continue working with the grantees to ensure they have the resources they need to help families get back into their homes and to rebuild the region smarter, stronger, and better prepared for future storms.”

Third round funding included:

  • Connecticut: $11.5 million in CDBG-DR funding and a $10 million Rebuild by Design award;
  • New Jersey: $501.9 million in CDBG-DR funding and a $380 million Rebuild by Design award;
  • New York: $420.9 million in CDBG-DR funding and a $185 million Rebuild by Design award;
  • New York City: $639 million in CDBG-DR funding and a $355 million Rebuild by Design award; and
  • Rhode Island: $671,000 in CDBG-DR funding.

In addition to the third round of disaster recovery grants, HUD and New Jersey announced an agreement to expand Hurricane Sandy recovery programs for lower-income households in nine impacted counties in the state. The settlement agreement, which resolves a complaint brought by several civil rights organizations, will provide a combined $240 million in direct housing assistance to lower-income households, re-evaluate denied applications under the state’s disaster housing program, and enhance outreach efforts for those who don’t speak English.

“Working together, we have been steadfast in ensuring that the largest amount by far of Sandy housing recovery aid reaches those most in need, and we’ve already devoted the majority of housing grants to low- and moderate-income families,” said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Under the terms of the agreement, New Jersey will:

  • Allocate $215 million in CDBG-DR funds to replace and develop multifamily housing in Atlantic, Bergen, Cape May, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean, and Union counties. The state will prioritize the siting of these units in Atlantic, Monmouth, and Ocean counties, which were most damaged by Sandy, and ensure that at least 60 percent of the units will serve families with children;
  • Review and consider decisions on rejection applications for the Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Elevation and Mitigation Program for homeowners to restore their damaged homes;
  • Reserve at least $10 million in a program that will serve low-income homeowners with damaged homes in the nine counties or owners of damaged manufactured housing;
  • Provide a comprehensive approach for serving people with limited English proficiency who would benefit from state HUD-funded recovery efforts;
  • Provide an additional $15 million to help the restoration of public, federally assisted, and supportive housing; and
  • Provide an additional $10 million in vouchers for low-income renters.