Public Comments: NC CDBG-DR State Action Plan
The NC Budget & Tax Center believes that no matter who someone is or where they live, when disaster strikes our government should have the resources, tools, and systems in place to quickly respond and help families, businesses and communities recover.
While there are a variety of federal departments, agencies, and programs involved in disaster recovery, one of the largest and most important sources of funding for long term recovery is the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program, which is housed in The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The CDBG-DR Program provides substantial flexible funding to address “unmet needs” of disaster recovery that are not addressed by other federal programs and funding sources. It’s an especially valuable and important program because it requires that at least 70% of the total funds be allocated to benefit low- and moderate-income households.
Once Congress has approved funds for the program, HUD conducts an assessment based on data to determine the level of need for each state or municipality. Using this analysis, they announce funding amounts to grantees. To receive this funding, each grantee must create an Action Plan that details how they plan to use the money to address unmet needs in accordance with HUD’s guidelines. Prior to submitting the Action Plan to HUD for approval, each grantee must conduct a mandatory 30-day public comment period to receive community input on the Action Plan. They can then revise the Action Plan based on the feedback that they receive or respond to the comments explaining their choices. In reviewing each plan for approval, HUD considers the public comments and the responses by grantees, and they may require the grantees to alter the plan based on the public comments.
On February 18, 2025, the NC Department of Commerce published North Carolina’s Action Plan and opened it to public comment.
You can read our public comments in full here.
Link to NC’s Approved CDBG-DR Action Plan (with response to public comments at the end)
