Federal funding allocated to disaster recovery efforts
The Central Coast will receive a financial boost to its disaster recovery efforts, after the federal government announced it would be allocating $115 million to the state of California on Aug. 25.
That money is to aid recovery efforts brought upon by the storms that ravaged the Central Coast in January.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge announced the $115 million of federal during a press conference hosted at the Direct Relief headquarters in Goleta.
U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and California Secretary of Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency Lourdes Castro Ramirez joined Fudge at the press conference.
“We know that you have been hit hard many times. We know that you’re very resilient, but we also know that we have a responsibility to help as much as we possibly can,” Fudge said during the press conference.
Before giving the funding, HUD assessed the hardest hit areas, but it is ultimately up to the state to decide where specifically within the disaster recovery efforts to spend the money.
“This is going to continue to assist those businesses, communities that have been affected that still haven’t been made whole,” Carbajal told the Business Times after the press conference.
Alabama received $10 million and Georgia received $13 million, making California the recipient of the largest funding by far.
“You have been hit harder and more often,” Fudge said during the press conference as to why California received the most money.
2023 has been another year that California has been hit hard by natural disasters. This winter, floods hammered the entire state, resulting in at least 25 deaths and over 1,400 rescues. The total damage is estimated to be over $1 billion, according to the Homeland Security Digital Library.
Earlier this month, California was hit by a tropical storm and Earthquake but escaped both with minimal damage relative to recent natural disasters.
“Thanks to a quick disaster declaration by President Biden and federal relief coming from FEMA, SBA, and now HUD, we’re on our way to getting back on our feet,” Carbajal said.
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