Today, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, M.D., is pleased to announce that the Texas General Land Office (GLO) will be offering a one-year extension for existing infrastructure and mitigation contracts that submit a documented need. The GLO is only able to offer this extension due to petitioning the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for one final extension of the 2017 Hurricane Harvey Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding. Thankfully, HUD approved this request based on the GLO’s strong track record of managing these funds and is now willing to give communities that need it more time.
“Since taking office nearly four years ago, I have repeatedly petitioned HUD for additional time on behalf of local communities. As the deadline for Hurricane Harvey projects approached, I submitted another request supported by the GLO’s performance record and my commitment to completing these critical projects,” said Commissioner Buckingham. “I am so excited to announce HUD leadership recognized the GLO’s progress and approved one final extension. The GLO has built a strong reputation as one of the most efficient and effective grantees of disaster recovery and mitigation funding. We stay committed to partnering with our communities to deliver these vital projects to flood victims.”
Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) and Mitigation (CDBG-MIT) grants are allocated through HUD, which establishes the federal requirements and deadlines for each allocation. Failure to comply with all regulations and deadlines can result in remaining funding being withheld or expended funding being recaptured. While previous requests for deadline extensions have been rejected, current HUD leadership listened to the GLO’s most recent petition for additional time and approved Commissioner Buckingham’s request for one final extension.
The one-time extension will also apply to the more than $1.1 billion in disaster recovery and mitigation project funding allocated to Harris County.
In a letter sent to Harris County notifying them of this one-year extension, Commissioner Buckingham stressed her grave concerns about Harris County continually failing to meet contract expenditure benchmarks for these vital and extremely rare infrastructure project funds and noted:
“While HUD’s trust in the GLO’s has earned Harris County an additional extension, I will be clear. No more delays will be tolerated … the time for excuses and missed benchmarks is over. No more extensions, no more excuses, just get it done.”
The one-time, one-year extension will be eligible for existing infrastructure and mitigation subrecipient contracts for the current contract scope as written with demonstrated need. All projects must continue to comply with applicable federal regulations.
For more information about the GLO’s disaster recovery and mitigation grants, please visit recovery.texas.gov.
To date, the GLO has expended more than $10 billion of disaster recovery funding, helped more than 14,000 Texans rebuild their homes – and their lives, and assisted thousands of communities in navigating the federal mandates and red-tape.