The California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) announced the availability of over $1 billion in federal 2018 Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery funds. Funds are proposed to be used through 2026 on housing, infrastructure, economic recovery, and planning related to unmet needs resulting from 2018 Presidentially declared disasters in Butte, Lake, Los Angeles, Shasta, and Ventura Counties. The program contemplates the following funding allocations:
- Owner-Occupied Housing Rehabilitation and Reconstruction - $205.1 million
- Multi-Family and Small Rental Housing - $250.7 million
- Infrastructure - $317.4 million
- Workforce Development - $40.7 million
- Planning - $86.2 million
- State and Local Program Delivery - $66.4 million
- State and Local Administration - $50.9 million
The Owner-Occupied Housing Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program provides up to $200,000 per damaged structure for any impacted homeowner in those disaster-impacted areas; however, exceptions to the cap will be considered on a case-by-case basis if the applicant has a demonstrable hardship. Eligible activities include rehabilitation, reconstruction, or new construction of single-family owner-occupied homes, repair and replacement of manufactured housing units, hazard mitigation, demolition, and relocation assistance.
The Multifamily/Small Rental Housing Program is allocated to each county to meet unmet rental housing needs, including apartment complexes and mixed-use development; however, rental assistance will also be available for landlords with 1-4 units. Funds will be distributed as follows:
- Butte County - $152.6 million ($61.3 million for the County and the remainder for Chico, Gridley, Oroville, and Paradise).
- Lake County - $10 million ($7.6 million for the County and $2.4 million for Lakeport)
- Los Angeles County - $29.4 million
- Shasta County - $23.2 million ($4.3 million for the County and the remainder for Redding, Anderson, and Shasta Lake)
- Ventura County - $3.4 million
The Infrastructure Recovery Program provides funding for repair and enhancement of local infrastructure and mitigation efforts. HCD will issue a NOI for these projects and jurisdictions in the impacted counties will be eligible to apply for funding.
The Workforce Development Program is intended to provide job training to low and moderate-income participants in construction trades. HCD will conduct a statewide grant application process for this program, which is to be administered through local nonprofit organizations. HCD may also provide a small business recovery program if additional funding becomes available.
Planning funds will be available for local governments to develop resilience and mitigation plans and update specified areas of their General Plans. While HCD will retain some of the funds for state-level planning, it is unclear how much funding will be passed through to the local level.