With parts of Texas still recovering from the damage caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Monday that it is granting an additional $652 million to aid in the recovery.
The new funding will supplement the more than $5 billion that HUD originally gave to Texas to recover from Harvey.
According to HUD, this new grant money will come through HUD’s Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery Program and will be used for the restoration of damaged and destroyed homes, businesses, and infrastructure in the hurricane-affected areas.
CDBG-DR grants support a variety of disaster recovery activities including housing redevelopment and rebuilding, business assistance, economic revitalization, and infrastructure repair.
“Today, we’re taking another important step along the path to recovery for hard-hit areas in East Texas,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said. “HUD is committed to working alongside Texans to rebuild their homes, restore their businesses and repair their critical infrastructure.”
With the newly announced grant, HUD will have given a total of more than $5.7 billion for recovery efforts in Texas.
“I am grateful to Secretary Carson for his tremendous partnership throughout the recovery and ongoing rebuilding process and for his leadership from the very beginning,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement. “With these funds, Texas will do more than rebuild. We will rebuild our communities stronger and more resilient than before.”