Hawai‘i to Receive to Receive $26 Mil in Disaster Relief

The state of Hawai‘i will receive an additional $26 million in new federal disaster relief funding, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development announced Monday.

The new Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding adds to the $71 million announced earlier this year, and will help state and local governments rebuild impacted communities, especially in low- and moderate-income areas, and provide resources to help businesses recover.

With the $26 million in housing and community development grants, Hawai‘i has now been allocated more than a half a billion dollars in federal disaster relief funding to help the state recover from the historic storms in April 2018, Hurricane Lane, and the eruption of Kīlauea.

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, worked with federal agencies and state and county officials to ensure Hawai‘i submitted an application to receive the maximum amount of funding. The new funding allocation was part of the $1.7 billion housing disaster recovery package Congress passed last year.

“As the recovery process continues, this new federal funding will be a big help. It’s also another indication of the strong partnership between our state and our federal agencies,” said Schatz. “I will continue to fight for federal resources at every opportunity to help Hawai‘i recover.”

Funding will be distributed as follows:

• $15.3 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in individual assistance to help people who have lost their home.
• $205 million from FEMA in public assistance to help local and state governments clean up and repair public infrastructure such as facilities, parks, and water lines.
• $93.1 million from the Department of Transportation to help rebuild roads and highways.
• $80 million from the Department of the Interior to help repair damages at the Hawai‘i Volcanoes Observatory and the Hanalei National Wildlife Refuge.
• $71 million from the Department of Housing & Urban Development for housing and community development.
• $47.2 million from the Small Business Administration in subsidized loans to help individuals and businesses pay for repairs not covered by insurance.
• $4 million from the Department of Labor in Disaster Unemployment Insurance to help those who lost their job temporarily or permanently because of a disaster and are not eligible for regular unemployment benefits.
• $187,000 from the Economic Development Administration to provide technical assistance for economic development activities in disaster impacted areas.