Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and the Colorado Congressional delegation today requested flexibility from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to help finance urgent flood recovery projects before the spring snowmelt.
Following the most recent infusion of $199 million from HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) fund, the lawmakers urged HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan to approve Colorado’s three requests for waivers of certain CDBG-DR requirements to help complete recovery projects in a timely manner.
In a letter to HUD Secretary Donovan, the lawmakers wrote, “As you saw during your recent visit, Coloradans continue to face significant challenges in the rebuilding and recovery effort. Cumulatively, our state still faces significant total costs and damages which we may not be able to finance through federal assistance from other departments and agencies. Approval of these waiver requests will help ensure CDBG-DR funds are being used to meet Colorado’s most urgent needs.”
The delegation has worked closely with Governor Hickenlooper and Colorado’s affected cities and counties since September’s flooding to ensure that Coloradans have every resource needed to rebuild.
Full Text of the Letter:
March 20, 2014
Dear Secretary Donovan:
We write to request the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approve Colorado’s three requests for waiver of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) fund requirements to help finance urgently needed flood recovery projects in our state.
First, we want to express our appreciation for your work, and the work of the HUD officials you oversee, in support of communities working to recover from the floods that struck our state this past fall. As you know, HUD has now allocated a total of over $262 million to Colorado, through two separate tranches of CDBG-DR funds, to finance ongoing flood recovery work in our state. This funding will provide critical assistance to Colorado communities affected by the floods. State officials are working to implement a plan to use these dollars to help Colorado families, businesses and municipalities rebuild flooded homes and damaged infrastructure.
The state requested waivers in three areas. The first waiver requests private property debris removal be included as an eligible activity in order to mitigate the threat of future flooding during spring runoff and reduce imminent public safety hazards. The second waiver requests reconstruction on certain private roads and bridges be included as an eligible activity to help ensure safe access and evacuation routes for both residents and first responders. Finally, the state requests the same waivers granted to the states of New York and New Jersey to use $500,000 of the allocated CDBG-DR funds to promote tourism and inject much-needed cash into areas heavily dependent on this industry.
As you saw during your recent visit, Coloradans continue to face significant challenges in the rebuilding and recovery effort. Cumulatively, our state still faces significant total costs and damages which we may not be able to finance through federal assistance from other departments and agencies. Approval of these waiver requests will help ensure CDBG-DR funds are being used to meet Colorado’s most urgent needs.
Thank you again for your support and your consideration.