Federal Aid for Post-Sandy Rebuilding Rolls Out
In their plans, which HUD approved in late April, both states say housing will get most of that CDBG money. New Jersey will use $780 million for homeowner assistance, including $600 million to rebuild, rehabilitate, elevate and address housing mitigation. An additional $179.5 million will go to restore large, multifamily housing facilities.
New Jersey said some of the balance of the $1.8 billion could go for infrastructure, adding it was working with federal officials to speed the release of more CDBG funding that "could be used to address unmet infrastructure needs."
New York plans to use $838 million of the CDBGs on housing, including repairs, replacing appliances and heating systems, engineering or architectural costs, environmental mitigation and replacing homes that the storm destroyed.
New York says it will spend up to $300 million of its CDBG allocation on public infrastructure and facilities, plus $20 million to launch an infrastructure bank to help finance "projects that increase the resiliency of the area's infrastructure to withstand future threats or provide redundancy of critical systems."
The Environmental Protection Agency on May 2 allocated $340 million to New York and $229 million to New Jersey to fund repairs of Sandy-damaged wastewater-treatment and drinking-water facilities. The $569-million total is nearly all of EPA's post-sequester aid from the Jan. 29 spending bill.
States and localities will handle contracting for projects using DOT, HUD and EPA funds, but the Army Corps of Engineers will be in charge of its own contracts. It got more than $5 billion for reconstruction in the Jan. 29 bill, including $2.9 billion for projects to reduce flood risks in the Sandy-affected region. In a May 30 report, the Corps listed more than $2 billion in such projects that are authorized but not yet complete or begun. On May 29, the Corps said it has begun a study of flood risk-reduction options; the report is due by January 2015.
| AGENCY | APPROPRIATED | AFTER 5% 3/1/13 SEQUESTER CUT | ALLOCATED AS OF 5/23/13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federal Transit Administration | $10,900 | $10,355 | $5,700 |
| Federal Highway Administration | 2,022* | 1,921 | 1,017** |
| Army Corps of Engineers (civil works) | 5,350 | 5,082 | 800 |
| HUD community development grants † | 15,980 | 15,181 | 5,400 |
| FEMA disaster-relief fund † | 11,488 | 10,914 | 4,480‡ |
| Dept. of the Interior | 829 | 787 | 475 |
| Environmental Protection Agency(wastewater-treatment and drinking-water facilities) | 600 | 570 | 569 |
*nationwide total, not limited to Sandy. † Multiple uses, including infrastructure ‡ Actual obligations through 4/30/13. Amount allocated draws on FEMA’s $10.9 billion from Disaster-Relief Appropriations Act and $6.4 billion in regular 2003 appropriations. ** total allocated for 36 states, three territories; includes $419 million for sandy-affected states.
SOURCE: disaster-relief appropriations act, agency reports
