State Funding
In addition to funds the Oregon Legislature made available in the immediate aftermath of the 2020 Labor Day fires, the Legislature in July 2021 also allocated $150 million through HB 5006 to support wildfire recovery housing programs at OHCS. OHCS was able to draw upon the work of the
Oregon Disaster Housing Task Force and the
Disaster Housing Recovery Action Plan to begin making use of these legislative resources immediately. OHCS provided an update on the
status of this funding to the Legislature in the 2022 short session.
Federal Funding
The federal government assists with disaster recovery in several ways. Public Assistance (PA) can help governments pay for infrastructure damage, and Individual Assistance (IA) can help people directly impacted by the disaster. Those programs both go into effect shortly after a presidential disaster declaration. The other major federal source of assistance, Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (CDBG-DR/MIT), typically comes later and requires an act of Congress.
In September 2021, Congress appropriated $5 billion for CDBG-DR/MIT in states that experienced presidentially declared disasters in 2020 and 2021. On November 1, 2021, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that $422 million of that appropriation will be granted to the State of Oregon for recovery efforts in response to the 2020 Labor Day fires. Governor Kate Brown requested that Oregon Housing and Community Services administer the grant.
CDBG-DR (disaster recovery) program funds are used to help those most impacted by a disaster, especially low-income residents needing housing recovery assistance. CDBG-MIT funds are used to help make individuals and communities more resilient to current and future risks. The state has been directed to spend at least 15% of the $422 million allocation on mitigation activities.
Timeline and Requirements
In February 2022, HUD published the Federal Register Notice, which lays out the timeline and requirements of the program. See "New Guidance for 2020 CDBG-DR Grantees" and other information about the program at the
HUD Exchange.
Oregon must complete several tasks before receiving funding. This includes conducting an Unmet and Mitigation Needs Assessment and developing an Action Plan that identifies how the state will utilize disaster recovery funds to address those needs.
Unmet Needs Analysis: The state must conduct an analysis of the impact the disaster had, the cost of recovery, and the remaining needs that have not been addressed through other funding sources.
Mitigation Needs Assessment: The state must identify the most significant natural disaster risks, by county, working with local jurisdictions and communities across the impacted areas.
Action Plan: Once unmet and mitigation needs are identified, the state will develop programs to meet those needs and create an Action Plan. The plan will outline how disaster recovery and mitigation funds will be used across programs and distributed in the impacted areas. Once the Action Plan is developed, it will be shared with the public to collect feedback. After a 30-day public comment period, likely starting May 1, feedback will be incorporated into the plan, and it will be submitted to HUD for review and approval. The state’s deadline to submit its Action Plan is June 8, 2022. HUD expects the state to submit multiple amendments to the initial Action Plan over the course of the program. Therefore, the first Action Plan will be based on our best understanding today of the unmet need, with the expectation that resource allocations and programs will change over time. Grant funds can be spent over six years after the Action Plan is approved, which we anticipate by September.
Resident and community participation is encouraged throughout the process. The state is required to develop a Citizen Participation Plan that describes how the public will be informed and engaged throughout the grant's lifecycle. Before the action plan is finalized, the public will be invited to review and submit feedback on a draft plan. During March and April, OHCS staff are reaching out to Tribal and local governments, Long Term Recovery Groups, community-based organizations and other stakeholders to help inform the initial development of the plan.
OHCS Presentations on CDBG-DR
Public Input
OHCS has gathered public input to help us create a draft Action Plan and understand which types of programs respondents would say are the highest priority. This survey closed on April 8, 2022.