HUD Streamlines Disaster Recovery Process with Universal Notice

This post was originally published by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced HUD is streamlining and simplifying its disaster recovery processes to deliver disaster assistance more quickly to Americans recovering from catastrophic events. HUD published an updated Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Universal Notice, which consolidates relevant requirements from several Federal Register notices and Community Planning and Development (CPD) notices since 1992, incorporates over 700 stakeholder comments, and fully aligns with the President’s Executive Orders.

“HUD is committed to helping Americans recover from natural disasters and a key part of our commitment is streamlining outdated and cumbersome processes to ensure there is no delay in providing critical resources to the communities we are called to serve,” Secretary Scott Turner said. “With this Universal Notice, HUD will better serve the American people during trying times with the urgency they deserve.”

HUD recently allocated nearly $12 billion in CDBG-DR funds across 47 grantees – including 23 states, 15 counties, 8 cities, and one territory. These grantees will all benefit from the streamlined guidance in today’s Universal Notice.

The Universal Notice is intended to provide publicly informed, consistent guidance for communities recovering from disasters. The Universal Notice incorporates many of the public’s comments and recommendations, such as:

• Increasing access to information on status of assistance,
• Simplifying housing documentation requirements for disaster survivors,
• Providing flexibility for rental assistance, including the ability to get reimbursed, and
• Offering greater flexibility on building codes and standards.

In addition to significant policy changes and updates, HUD will provide an extension if needed for the grantees to submit their Action Plans to allow HUD staff to work with states and localities on training and to ensure their Action Plans are compliant with the Universal Notice and fully aligned with the President’s Executive Orders.

Visit the Universal Notice Overview webpage to access supportive resources for grantees, including Action Plan templates, HUD review checklists, and additional resources organized by grant life cycle phase for Universal Notice-covered grantees.