U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
WASHINGTON, DC 204 10-1000

ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR CONGRESSIONAL
AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS

FEB11
The Honorable Elizabeth Warren
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510-2105
Dear Senator Warren:
On behalf of Secretary Benjamin S. Carson, Sr. and Director Mick Mulvaney, thank you for
your letter of January 21, 2019, regarding the status of the Department of Housing and Urban
Development’s (HUD) efforts to assist Puerto Rico’s long-term recovery from Hurricanes Irma and
Maria. Secretary Carson and the entire Department remain committed to working with Puerto Rico
to meaningfully aid its long-term recovery, primarily through the largest allocation of Community
Development Block Grant-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding in the history of the program.
The following information is from HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD).
While the recent lapse in appropriations did impact the pace of the Department’s work,
HUD continues to assist Puerto Rico with its recovery efforts. First, HUD has provided the Puerto
Rico Department of Housing (Vivienda) with access to virtually all of the initial tranche of $1 .507
in CDBG-DR funding.’ Please note that HUD was not able to make these funds available within
the Department’s Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting (DRGR) system until necessary banking
information from Vivienda was linked to the grant funds. The Department received the final piece
of banking information from Vivienda on January 10, 2019, and linked the banking information to
the $1.507 billion CDBG-DR grant as of January 16, 2019. Vivienda made its first draw of funds
on February 8, 2019.
As most HUD staff returned to work on January 28, 2019, and CPD resumed full
operations, additional steps were taken to advance Vivienda’s CDBG-DR recovery efforts. These
steps included:
•
•
•
•

Approving minor modifications in Vivienda’s CDBG-DR plan as established in DRGR;
Accepting Vivienda’ s recent staffing actions as fulfilling grant conditions that were a
predicate to accessing the full $1.5 billion;
Extending on-going technical assistance efforts for additional time periods; and
Providing responses on a range of policy issues.

Furthermore, while review of pending CDBG-DR action plans was determined not to be an
excepted activity during the appropriations lapse, HUD is now moving forward on consideration of
those plans and amendments (including Vivienda’s amendment for $8.2 billion). Following the
timely publication of a Federal Register notice in the next several days, the Department intends to
review and render decisions on the pending amendments to plans from Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin
I

Vivienda may currently access $1 .462 billion in funding. Vivienda does not have access to $45 million, because the
proposed “mortgage catch-up” activity requires a further statutory waiver.

www.hud.gov

espanol.hud.gov

 Islands, Florida, California, Georgia, and Missouri. The list below indicates the amounts associated
with the plans and amendments.

Grantee
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
US Virgin Islands
State of Florida
State of California
State of Georgia
State of Missouri

CDBG-DR Amount in Pending Plan or
Amendment
$8,220,783,000
$779,217,000
$157,676,000
$124,155,000
$37,943,000
$58,535,000

With respect to your questions regarding nutrition assistance, this is an issue under the
jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). We would advise you to reach out to
USDA for additional information.
I hope this information is helpful. if I can be of further

please let me know.

Sincerely,

Wolfson
Assistant Secretary for Congressional
and Intergovernmental Relations