At a commencement speech last month at the University of California at Irvine, President Obama announced a nearly $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition that will help communities that have experienced natural disasters rebuild and increase their resilience to future disasters. More specifically, the competition will support innovative resilience projects at the local level while encouraging communities to adopt policy changes and activities that plan for the impacts of extreme weather and climate change and rebuild affected areas better prepare for the future.
Of the nearly $1 billion available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds from the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2013, about $820 million will be available to all states and local governments that experienced a Presidentially-declared major disaster in 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Application Deadline:
States in the Hurricane Sandy-affected region will be eligible to compete for approximately $180 million, to help address critical housing needs, building on the successful model set forth by HUD’s Rebuild by Design competition. All successful applicants will need to show how their proposed action relates to the disaster from which they are recovering. HUD will ensure that geographic diversity is a consideration in the selection of participating communities.
About Rebuild By Design:
Since June 2013, ten interdisciplinary design teams have been working with a diverse range of stakeholders throughout the Sandy-affected region to develop innovative solutions to rebuild. On June 2nd, Secretary Shaun Donovan of HUD announced the winning proposals. Learn More